Return to Innocence
by Mystic25
Summary: A seventeen year old girl escaped from a sex slave ring, now she has run into Max. And now Max must help her before she slides back down to hell.. *CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR UP* **FINIAL CHAPTER** COMPLETED..wow huh?
1. Default Chapter

TITLE: Return to Innocence   
AUTHOR: Mystic25   
EMAIL: yellowrubberduck31@hotmail.com   
  
DISTRIBUTION: Archive..my story..my info..keep same.   
GENRES: Story/Angst   
RELATIONSHIPS: Max/Logan stuff   
CONTENT: violence, abusive sex   
KEYWORDS: graphic images of sexual situations.   
  
RATING: R   
SPOLIERS: References to "Out" Ignoring all the Season 2 Mess   
SUMMARY: A brothel escapee winds up in Seattle, crossing paths with Max   
  
DISCLAIMER: Dark Angel belongs to Cameron/Eglee and Fox. Information obtained   
on sexual slavery will be credited at the end of the story. Any songs in here are   
credited to their respective singers at the end as well. Title is a song by   
Enigma. Please don't sue. Poor girl here, all money needed to pay of student   
loans.   
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is not affiliated with my "Choices" series. I read   
a lot about this subject researching a report in psychology, and feel   
it's an issue that should be addressed.   
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE #2: Boney Lake is a real city in Washington State.   
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE #3: Sorry if I put too many of these, but pertaining to my   
content warning of 'abusive sex' I mean just that. There are scenes of   
sex used as a pure 'getting off' factor, so this is your warning.   
******   
  
The line between sex and slavery is the use of either handcuffs or locks   
and chains on the bed.   
  
-my thoughts on sexual slavery   
  
*******   
  
  
CHAPTER ONE   
  
"Bound"   
  
  
Boney Lake, Washington   
  
A thin trickle of water wound a path down the fading brick of the   
abandoned warehouse. Like a zigzagging miniature river it descended   
slowly past the surfaces of graffito tagged bricks, finally ending it's   
journey where the wall suddenly stopped, due to years of neglect   
and the aftermath of bombings. It there dripped effortlessly onto a   
head of black colored hair.   
  
The girl paid no notice to the distraction, focusing all her energy   
on the task at hand. Experienced fingers opened the tube of deep red   
lipstick. It was melted and glopped on her lips, but she merely pressed   
them together, and in the end it hid the general appearance of makeup   
used way past its intended years. Her mouth now stained in the crimson   
color, she glanced into the large chunk of painted glass that served   
as her mirror, when she held it up to the light at just the right angle.   
  
Footsteps boomed and echoed on the concrete floor, and the small door creaked   
open. The girl suddenly ceased her actions, dropping the glass and the lipstick   
tube simultaneously. She jumped to her feet with such force that her head would've   
connected with the copper water pipe hanging precariously above her, but years   
of repetitive scenes like this gave her the instinct to move slightly forward   
when standing up.   
  
There was bustle all around her, as other girls clamored to their feet, straitening,   
combing. The door opened. The pimp leader entered, silently as usual. A man, a tall   
one, with sandy blonde hair and eyes that were almost black stood beside him.   
They walked closer to where the girls were.   
  
The sandy haired man looked at them all, displayed in the clear   
Plexiglas walls of the holding area. He examined them all like   
merchandise, there only for the pleasure and desires he came for.   
  
Black, obsidian eyes examined each one, reading the numbers on the tags around their   
necks. He uttered words like "Maybe" and "Too Husky." moving down the line of women.   
He paused at the last one, the dark haired girl.   
  
"Seven" he read the number around her neck "lucky seven" a fast tongue darted out   
to wet his lips.   
  
"I'm on my period," she warned, staring at this beast of a man through   
the plastic. Her heart pounded in her chest. Three years she had done   
this, but each time it terrified her.   
  
"Liar!" the silence of the pimp was broken "You bled out two   
weeks ago.."   
  
"It's longer then before." she lied, trying to convince him   
that she was unfit for this man's business.   
  
The pimp pulled a jangle of metal keys from his pocket. He opened   
the door to the holding area and snatched the girl by the arm,   
dragging her out to the center of the room.   
  
"Show me," he ordered.   
  
"Please, I do.." she begged, feeling the familiar sting of his   
hand on her face, and the taste of blood in her mouth.   
  
"If you do, you show me bitch." he growled at her with intense   
anger.   
  
She fought the urge to cry as she lifted the skirt of her black   
dress. Her hand fumbled down her worn panties, pulling them off.   
  
He snatched them from her, examining the crotch, and looked at   
her with rage "You're going to get it for that one." he threw her   
underwear at her. "Put them back on." he demanded "And if I catch   
you lying again, no underwear, that way if you bleed I'll see it   
all over your legs."   
  
She jammed them back on her body, going extremely slow, to avoid   
looking at the man with the black eyes.   
  
"How old is this one man?" the customer asked "Looks a little   
fresh."   
  
"She's seventeen." the pimp informed, "She can do everything a full   
blooded woman can do."   
  
"We'll see," he said, grabbing her by the arm. "You got a room   
for this?"   
  
The pimp nodded "Massage parlor is in back, but it's cash on the   
table first."   
  
The sandy haired man threw three grimy fifties at him.   
  
"Three hours." the pimp informed, folding the money into the   
pocket of his black trench coat.   
  
The sandy haired man yanked the girl roughly by the arm to the   
back room. The bordered up windows allowed no natural light to   
filter in. Lighting was supplied entirely by three lamps standing   
on black wrought iron tables. A dusty, molded bed sat in the center   
of the room, hastily made up with only one filthy pillow and white   
cotton sheet, that had seen it's equal share of hungry moths and   
sexual activity.   
  
"I want my money's worth." the man notified, throwing the girl   
onto the mattress in a primal gesture.   
  
She didn't have time to catch her bearings, before he was upon her,   
ripping off her flimsy dress and panties. He groped her breasts,   
raked her hair with grimy fingers. His lips touched her neck, her   
nipples. He reached down, tearing a handful of pubic hair from her   
vaginal area "I hate too much hair." he growled, scattering the   
strands on the mattress.   
  
She bit her lip from the pain that his action had caused, feeling   
him climb on top of her. She was glad for that at least...it would   
be over soon. He came into her and rode her fast and hard. He was   
so large that she could feel herself tearing at each entrance. Blood   
speckled the already dirty sheet under her. She came four times.   
The fifth time she moaned in agony. The sixth time she cried.   
The seventh and eight go around she begged him to stop.   
  
"I'm suppose to give you a bath." she tried to crawl out from   
under him "My pimp will kill me if you aren't cleaned-"   
  
He shoved her down "I didn't pay good money for you to talk."   
he moved out of her and in her again, quickly.   
  
This time she screamed. "No more, I can't do this any longer."   
she clawed at his back, trying to break away from him "The three   
hours are almost up."   
  
She had somehow managed to maneuver her way out from under him,   
and was crawling off the bed. His hand gripped her leg, pulling   
her back "I'm not done."   
  
"Time is over," she cried out "You'll have to pay more money."   
she kicked him in the face with her bare foot.   
  
The door opened. The pimp stood there, casting a shadow into   
the room. "Session's up. Get lost."   
  
"She's abusive." the man notified "I'd get rid of her before   
you loose business." he stood up, and pulled on his pants over   
his nude lower half. Grabbing his shirt he made his way to the   
door "there are plenty of other rings." he walked back out to the   
other room.   
  
The pimp came over to the naked girl on the bed. Yanking her by   
her hair he pressed his face right up to hers "If you cannot   
perform your duty like it's suppose to be done, I will find a home   
in your body for my bullets." He threw her back on the bed "Get   
dressed, I've got customers lining up."   
  
Pulling on her clothes was an excruciating task. Her entire body   
ached. Her vagina and cervix felt like they were on fire. She slipped   
on her panties and walked over to the door. Peering out, she saw   
her pimp with his back facing her, and heard the noises of bullets   
being loaded into the chamber of his .45 magnum. Her heart beat   
frantically in her chest, and she backed away from the door. He was   
going to make good on his promise. She listened for the noise of him   
rising from the plywood constructed folding chair, and for his   
footsteps approaching. But they never came. Someone else was in   
there with him. She could hear them talking. Peeking out the door   
confirmed her suspicions.   
  
Another man was there, conversing with the pimp. She suddenly made   
a rash, and quick decision and slipped out of the room. The two men   
were speaking near the old burned out remains of an inner room wall.   
They were both a good three yards away from the only door that exited   
the warehouse.   
  
She could see the door had been left open a crack, in the clients   
haste to get in the building. The opportunity to escape had never   
been presented to her in such a simple, almost flawless fashion.   
Years of repressed agony and terror fueled her stride as the gateway   
to freedom drew closer with each footfall. A shaking hand pulled   
open the door, and being old, rusted and decrepid, it creaked, sending   
an echo through the enclosure.   
  
The pimp turned "What the hell are you doing?" the gun cocked.   
  
She ran, despite the sounds of her impending capture or possible   
death. A old green Oldsmobile was parked by a tree, most likely the   
other man's. She ran in its direction, ducking every few minutes   
at the countless number of magazines that were being unloaded at   
her body.   
  
She picked up a weather worn cinderblock from the base of the   
tree and smashed the driver's side window. Unlocking the door   
she scurried into the seat, frantically searching under the   
dashboard for the appropriate wires. After making the right   
connection, the engine roared to life. She shifted the vehicle   
into reverse, and floored the gas. The car flew down the long   
dirt road, and soon reached the spot where it connected with the   
main paved one. Tires squealed as she put it in drive and blazed   
down the street, not looking back. 


	2. Bittersweet Freedom

*****   
I looked at the face in the mirror, it was me, but I was changed   
  
*****   
  
  
CHAPTER TWO   
  
"Bittersweet Freedom"   
  
  
  
Night soon rolled upon her. She had been driving for five hours,   
not knowing where the hell she was going, but concluding that any   
place was better then the one she left. The stars were out in vast   
amounts, shinning like glittery diamonds in a silent ebony sky.   
There was no one else on the road but her, and it both comforted   
and scared her. She had been around strangers for so long she didn't   
know if she could deal with people on the same level as she had before   
her capture. The innocence had left her the same night of her virginity.   
Now all there was a shell of her former self, filled with the horrific   
reality that was her every waking moment for three prolonged years.   
It had made her hard, unfeeling at times, and uncaring of her body,   
so long as it held up enough to keep her alive.   
  
The happy go lucky teen was dead. She had survived and escaped, but   
now she was changed. And she had to live with those changes. The scenery   
of rolling oak trees that had been planted in 2012 to 'rebuilt the forests'   
receded, and the outline of buildings appeared on the horizon.   
  
The car sputtered and jerked on the last mile before the first   
sector check in Seattle. After turning over one last time, it   
finally quit. She looked at the fuel gage. The needle was pointing   
to the 'E' Swearing she climbed out of the car. She took a tentative   
step forward. Muscles still ached, but the telltale trickle of blood   
had stopped for now.   
  
As she neared the sector check the guard at the gate eyed her   
suspiciously "Need to see your pass."   
  
"I don't have one," she informed, not making eye contact   
with the man.   
  
"Then you better get the hell outta here." he ordered "Cities   
already full of dead beats." he shoved her in the direction she   
just came from.   
  
Surprising herself, she whipped around and shoved him back "I just   
came from back there. I don't want to back track, I want to go   
forward."   
  
The guard was not happy. "I can't let you in without a pass kid."   
he glowered at her.   
  
"Come on" she sauntered up to him, putting the years of beaten   
in lessons and practices of making men happy to good use "I don't   
have a coat or anything, I'll freeze." she shivered to drive her   
point home. "No one has to know." she slowly traced his arm with   
one finger.   
  
The guard's breathing hitched ever so slightly at her touch.   
"I could get fired for this." despite his words, he raised the   
orange and white-stripped barrier. "Get outta here."   
  
She gave him a ten-megawatt smile, and walked into the city.   
First impression, more poor then rich. They lined the streets.   
Some residing on benches under newspapers, others huddled by fires   
fueled by trash and fallen crates off of supply trucks. And still   
more hiding in the shadows of crudely built shanties houses.   
  
She roamed aimlessly through the road, catcalls and whistles   
making themselves known all around her. She still had on the sheer,   
barely there dress and stiletto heals her pimp had bought, and   
demanded that she wear. She knew what they thought she was. She   
continued her journey, the spikes of her shoes clicking on the   
streets filled with pot holes and cracks from the years of acid   
rain produced right after the Pulse.   
  
She soon chanced upon some sort of open area market. Wooden booths   
and makeshift tents lined the expanse. Only a hand full of people   
meandered their way through the maze, in search of items that once   
filled supermarkets, but now resided here.   
  
She stepped into the labyrinth of decaying wood and plastic.   
No one shot her a dirty look here, or even one that screamed   
'gimmie'. They paid her no notice at all, ignoring everyone but   
themselves. A stall in front of her displayed garments, simple   
items like jeans, sweaters and t-shirts. The clothing change would   
give her the transformation she needed.   
  
Stepping up to the enclosure, she was greeted with the face of   
a chubby Vietnamese man, who looked like he had seen better days.   
"What can I help you with?" Despite his ragged, and worn looks, he   
always cheered up at the prospect of impending business.   
  
She selected some jeans, a sweater, and pair of cheaply made,   
leather hiking boots, but they would be better then the agonizing   
pain of stilettos.   
  
The elderly man rang up the items, and calculated the   
total:" $120.00"   
  
She yanked out the hundred-dollar bill from her fading cream   
wire framed bra. One customer had foolishly paid her for doing   
'good work' after he left, and she had successfully hid it all   
this time.   
  
"I only have a hundred," she announced, showing him the wadded,   
dirty currency.   
  
Something flickered across the man's face, and he gazed at her   
long and hard for a moment. "You look like a hooker, and I steer   
clear from selling to them, but there's something about your eyes,   
they look sad. Like you've been there and back." He snatched up the   
hundred and put it in his dented and rusty cash box. Although she   
was twenty dollars under the amount, he handed her change of fifty   
dollars. "Half for the clothes. The rest you keep. Food will not buy   
itself."   
  
She didn't question her luck, and took the money and clothes,   
heading back in the direction she came from. She started roaming   
around, looking for a place that wasn't out in the open to change.   
She had enough of undressing in front of people to last a lifetime.   
An immense fruit storage crate seemed to suit her needs. The jeans   
were slightly big, but they stayed on well enough to satisfy her.   
After lacing up the last boot she stood up again. Reaching her full   
height of 5'4 she felt strange. Constantly wearing two or three inch   
heals day in and day out had made her forget how tall she actually   
was. She crawled out from behind her makeshift dressing room and   
headed back down the road.   
  
Now people paid her little notice, just like at the market.   
There were still the occasional "Hey baby" remarks, because she   
had been told that she was an attractive girl, but not on the same   
over done level as before. The white sweater helped warm her   
chilled body, but she was still cold, and sore, and feared that   
she would collapse out on the filthy streets if she didn't find a   
place to rest soon.   
  
An establishment directly in front of her seemed to boast of warmth,   
and being a bar it also promoted drowning out your shit infested life   
in alcohol. She headed into the building and sat down in a torn and   
falling apart stool at the long wooden counter.   
  
She shifted uncomfortably in the stool, missing the bar tender   
approach her "Whatcha need?"   
  
Her head whipped up to face a tall man, with deep green eyes.   
Memories of the sandy haired man flashed in her mind, and she fought   
the urge to run away screaming.   
  
"Glass of whisky" she ordered, making eye contact for only a   
brief moment.   
  
The man quickly filled the order. He didn't even ask her age.   
She easily could pass for nineteen, and in this day and age even   
the little kids had reasons to drink and the bartenders wouldn't   
have minded, if it meant more business.   
  
Her drink was slid to her and it tapped the hand that had been resting   
on the bar. "Four bucks."   
  
She didn't look at him and shoved him the money. She sipped from   
the glass, getting use to the taste of the alcohol, and then slammed   
a third of it down. It tasted bitter and strong, but it fit her mood.   
When she had been at home, she had been the good girl, staying out of drugs,   
going to church, singing in the gospel choir. But that was before, her life   
was to full of jagged edges and gray areas now. If her mother was here,   
she would tell her not to drink, but she hadn't seen her mother in ages,   
and this whisky helped take an edge off the pain.   
  
Her senses became duller as the alcohol took affect, and she welcomed   
the difference. The glass was soon emptied, and she remained seated,   
feeling the lingering soreness of the abusiveness of the last customer.   
Her thoughts wandered to her musical talent. She hadn't sang in forever.   
Never being able to muster up enough strength to get the notes to   
leave her lips. A song sprang unbidden to her mind, and the lyrics   
tumbled out of her, as if on their own accord.   
  
"My right hand holds matches   
  
My left holds my past   
  
I hope the wind catches   
  
And burns it down fast   
  
I'm gonna step into the fire   
  
With my failures and my shame   
  
And wave goodbye to yesterday   
  
As I dance among the flames-"   
  
Once she started signing her vocal cords made up for the years of   
neglected use. Her tone was a deep, velvety rich soprano, changing   
pitch during climatic moments with beautiful vibrato   
  
"So don't try to save me now   
  
Let the walls of my world all burn down   
  
Just stand back and wail 'till the smoke finally passes   
  
And I will rise   
  
From the ashes   
  
From the-"   
  
"This isn't church!" a patron interrupted her song. "I like silence   
when I'm plastered," he informed drunkardly. "Belt out that crap   
somewhere else."   
  
"Girl's gotta right to sing when she wants scuzz." an anonymous   
voice pointed out. The voice belonged to that of a woman who   
stepped out of shadows. She shot a scowl at the drunken patron and   
took a seat at the empty stool beside the other girl.   
  
"Locals here love dissin' anybody and everybody when they're tainted."   
the woman informed. Her raven hair hung off her shoulders that were   
covered in a nice, well worn, black leather jacket. "Don't take any   
offense, they're dolts."   
  
The black haired girl adapted a ghostlike smile on her face.   
"Thanks for the tip."   
  
"Another piece of 411." the woman went on "Your voice is awesome."   
she complimented in all honesty "Almost shattered the mug at my   
table." her chocolate brown eyes gazed into the girl's matching set   
"A friend of mine wants to meet the artist behind the music." she   
nudged her head in the direction of a woman seated with a group of   
people in a far corner table "That is if you don't mind."   
  
She looked over at the woman, who was locking eyes with her from   
across the room. She was attractive, wearing a lime green sweater.   
And although she wasn't a lesbian, this woman would be a possible   
date if she were. The thought of sex and relationships with men   
scared the shit out of her, but women were a relatively safe area.   
They had been the prisoners, not the abusers. She turned to face   
the woman beside her "Only if you don't mind me joining your party."   
  
"It's not a party," the woman informed standing back up again,   
and she did the same. "We're just a couple of worn out stiffs   
taking a break from the rat race."   
  
They reached their destination. "Guys," the woman addressed   
her companions "I got the backstage pass and snagged the artist."   
she looked at her female friend "Original Cindy this is-" she   
broke off when she realized that she didn't know the girl's name.   
  
"Cree." the other girl finished for her.   
  
"You got a hell of a voice boo." 'Cindy' smiled at her, gesturing   
for her to sit.   
  
Cree sat in an empty chair, and the other woman resumed her seat   
beside Cindy.   
  
"I haven't used it much." Cree informed of Cindy's remark "Not   
for a while." she reached for the pitcher of pale yellow beer   
that was a fixture in the center of the table.   
  
Max snagged the pitcher for her, kicking Sketchy under his seat   
"Stop drooling, and hand me that empty glass beside you."   
  
After he gave it to her, she poured the girl a generous amount   
in the glass. "There may be such things as starving artists,   
but as long as I'm around there'll never be a thirsty one."   
  
Cree took the drink from her "Thanks." she sipped slowly,   
wiping the foam off her top lip with a quick tongue.   
  
"So Cree.." Sketchy looked at her "Did your parents want to   
name you 'creek', but decided the hell with the 'K' at the end?"   
  
Cree might be intimidated by men, but not this one "If that's   
your pick up line for all the girls you meet, you probably can   
count all your dates on one hand." she held up a closed fist in   
the age-old mocking fashion of zero.   
  
"Crash and burn." Cindy quoted looking at the other girl   
"So-" she tried to strike up a new topic of conversation   
"I haven't seen you in here before, so I'm guessin' you aren't   
from around the area."   
  
Cree didn't know what to say to that. The woman had spoken the truth,   
but she had discovered that lying would deal you better hands then   
honesty. "Just got in yesterday-" she started to spin a fictional   
yarn "Got out of a real bad relationship with a guy who like to bang   
my body up more then the gong, so I split." she took another sip of   
her drink.   
  
"Abuse be the work of de devil my sister." Herbal moralized, "It is   
a good thing you got away from da source."   
  
Cree didn't make eye contact with him, but responded "More then   
you'll ever know."   
  
The sound of a beeping pager cut through the air. Max looked at the   
source of the noise clipped to her waist briefly, already knowing   
who it was.   
  
"Gotta connect with your squeeze?" Cindy asked, in more of a   
statement then a question.   
  
Max shot her friend a look, and stood up from the chair "Need to   
take this." she left in search of a payphone.   
  
"Didn't deny it this time." Cindy re-filled her glass, leaning   
back in the chair.   
  
"Maybe because you heckle her so much she developed some sort   
of immunity." Sketchy diagnosed.   
  
"Or she knows I'm right." Cindy returned   
  
"I feel the love when my friends talk about me behind my back."   
Max walked back over to the table.   
  
Cindy ignored her remark, and went straight for open   
territory "Bouncin' over to see him?"   
  
Max glowered at her slightly. Logan had paged her, and when   
she hit him back; he said he needed to see her. But, she knew   
this would just add more fuel to the fire of an ongoing argument.   
"Yea I am." she began, going for the old standby defense next   
"And he's just a friend."   
  
"Riight." Cindy drew out the middle syllable "And I'm going   
straight tonight so me and Sketchy can kick it."   
  
"I see possibility in that." Sketchy defended, ducking when Cindy   
threw old sugar packets at him from the condiment tray.   
  
"As much as I love debating this topic everyday of my life with   
you all, I gotta blaze." Max stated, laying down a few bills to   
cover her split on the tab.   
  
"See ya at work tomorrow suga." Cindy said as a good-bye, as   
Max left out the door.   
  
"My boo sure loves waddin' in the river of Denial." Cindy turned   
to Cree "The 411 on Max is-" Cindy began regaling the new comer   
on her take of her girl's situation. "She's had it real bad for   
the same guy for months, but always lays on it thick on the   
'friend's aspect'"   
  
"Good friend's are hard to come by." Cree argued "I'd rather   
have a friend for life, then a lover who'll ditch me to screw   
the next thing that crosses his path on two legs." there was   
a tone of experience in her voice. It was a supposed 'lover'   
or boyfriend, as her innocence use to call it that had baited   
her into a trap at a restaurant three years ago. The presumed   
'roll model' youth had gotten a cut of five hundred dollars to   
sell her to a brothel.   
  
"A philosopher be amongst us." Herbal smiled in Cree's direction.   
  
Cree shrugged off his praising remark "Not a job that earns any   
green." she was intimidated at first, but then managed to make   
slight eye contact with Herbal "Do you know where there is one?"   
  
Cindy laughed lightly "Suga, there's plenty of ligit work out   
there, that is if you don't mind puttin' your ass to the grindstone."   
  
"I'm not picky." Cree stated "I don't mind getting my hands dirty.   
With me it's survival before living out my dream."   
  
Sketchy leaned over at looked at her "Then we have the perfect   
job for you." 


	3. Pictures From Hell

*****   
  
You can't just sit around and watch shit unravel, you have to get right in there and wade in it to understand what's going on.   
  
*****   
  
CHAPTER THREE   
  
"Pictures from Hell"   
  
  
Foggle Towers   
  
"So let me get this straight..you page me to come over here   
and look at a painting?" Max turned to where Logan stood gazing   
at the swirls of blues and yellows of the oil painted canvas.   
  
"It's not just 'a painting' Max." Logan argued, still surveying   
the work before him "This was one of Van Goth's most esteemed   
works of art."   
  
Max focused her attention back to the canvas "A man paints   
what he sees after shoving a finger in his eyeball, and the   
art critics eat it up like candy." she scoffed at the idea "And   
people say OUR generation gets away with so much shit."   
  
"Guess it's a matter of opinion." Logan shrugged, turning his   
gaze away from the copy of 'Starry Night' he had miracously found   
at a stall in South Market. "And this is not the only reason I   
beeped you tonight."   
  
"The plot thickens." Max announced dramatically "You got someone   
you want greased?"   
  
"Not in this case." Logan answered, trying to hide the smile   
that escaped about the way she cut through the formalities and   
went straight to the 'ass kicking' aspect of a job. "It's sort   
of a search out assignment." he began walking in the direction   
of his computer room.   
  
"Animal, vegetable, or mineral?"' Max inquired, falling into step   
behind him.   
  
"Human." Logan gave her the choice she didn't think of. He picked   
up a photo off his desk, facing the image towards her.   
  
Max found herself staring face at the likeness of the woman she   
had just met at Crash. "That's Cree.." she trailed off in puzzlement.   
  
"You know her?" Logan asked, slightly surprised.   
  
"Just informally." Max answered, "She hung with me and the guys   
at Crash tonight. She had this killer voice, and Cindy wanted   
to chill with her for a while. Why the need to seek her out?" she   
asked finally.   
  
Logan put down the picture and picked up another stack of photos   
"This girl 'Cree' escaped from a brothel yesterday where she had   
been held captive for three years."   
  
Max took the first picture he gave her. It showed the half demolished   
remains of the warehouse. She saw the images of the women behind the   
Plexiglas prison. There were empty condom wrappers scattered on   
the dirty ground. And she felt sick and revolted inside.   
  
"Her and the other woman had to take on twenty men every day."   
Logan broke her out of her musings. "That was the bare minimum.   
Sometimes it went as high as fifty. They were beaten and starved   
if they refused to put out, and had to live in that cubicle every   
day."   
  
"How'd she escape?" Max asked, not being able to tear her eyes   
away from the photos he handed to her. It was one of some sort   
of back room, with a dirty bed, and the faint outlines of brass   
holders for chains on the floor.   
  
"She just made a break for it one day." Logan responded, "Stole   
a man's car when the pimp had his back turned."   
  
"Talk about 'carpe diem." she had to repress the emotions that were   
welling in her that might weaken her cast iron defenses. After all that   
she had underwent, and all that she'd seen, this kinda thing always   
got to her. Memories of heat cycles that were purely 'need' for her and   
dominance for the random club and bar guys that crossed her very aroused path sprung to her mind. To them, she was just some late night screw. And since she had no control over her libido, she'd fuck their brains out, and then slink away, leaving them to think she was simply a horny nymphet they could find anytime they wanted to get a hard-on.   
  
"Max?"   
  
Logan's voice snapped her out of her trip down the 'sex life from hell' memory lane. She didn't even realize she had zoned out until he said her name "Hmm?"   
  
"Are you okay?" he looked at her in slight concern over the way she spaced out on him.   
  
"It those pictures." she stated simply "I've seen a lot of fucked up stuff in my time, but this ranks right up there with the worst of them."   
  
"I think it scores pretty high on my 'shit' list as well." he concurred.   
  
She finally placed the offensive photos back into Logan's hands "What   
happened to her is cruel and sad, but why do you want to find her? It's   
been my experience that low profiles are better when you're on the lamb."   
  
"Once someone run's the tags on the car she stole, they'll be able to   
pinpoint her in Seattle." he dropped the pictures back on his computer   
desk "Her pimp and the sector police consider her stolen merchandise,   
and they'll either sell her off again, or kill her, depending on which   
way the money blows."   
  
"And your plan is what? For me to drag her against her will to one of   
your safe houses, hoping against hope that these thugs won't bother to   
look in the obvious places, or that she won't just run away?"   
  
"The obvious answer isn't always the correct one." he informed "Plus with the amount of abuse she suffered she won't be able to 'run' very far. I didn't even consider my safe houses. Just make sure she's aware of the paper trail she left behind her."   
  
"I'm just suppose to go up to her and say 'hey, remember all that shit that happened to you? Want to relive it while I attempt to save your ass'?"   
  
"Something like that." Logan agreed   
  
"You make it sound like a piece of cake," she argued   
  
"Never said it was." he defended "Just something that needs to be taken care of, a little loose end to save her life."   
  
"Then I'll make sure and tie it off with a bow, and attach a sympathy card."   
  
"Are you always so cynical when it comes to saving people's lives?" he asked   
her straight out.   
  
"If I smelled flowers and looked around for a coffin I would be a cynic. This is just my take on things, nothing more." she answered his remark honestly. "There's nothing funny 'bout a girl who had to put out 24/7 against her will."   
  
Her tone held no mirth, indicating that she wasn't kidding. "I feel the   
same way. That's why she needs the heads up on the tail on her back."   
  
"There's a tail already?" Max asked in obvious confusion. That confusion soon sarcasm "Those bastards don't waste anytime do they?"   
  
"No." Logan replied "And we shouldn't either. We need to get a hold of her somehow."   
  
"I'll ask the guys 'bout it at work tomorrow, maybe she said some words 'bout where she might go."   
  
"This would be the greasing you mentioned earlier?" he leaned against a corner of his computer desk.   
  
"This girl don't grease her friends," she told him straight out "I'm just out to get a lil 411."   
  
"Oh right, you save that for the low lives on the street."   
  
"Supply and demand." she returned "Some need it more then others. So.."   
she steered their conversation in another direction. "I hear these art   
exhibits usually cater."   
  
"I think I can meet that request." he responded "Seasoned grilled lemon   
chicken and rice pilaf okay?"   
  
"You gotta ask?" she quipped, heading towards his kitchen to raid the   
refrigerator. 


	4. No Break For the Working Girls

*****   
  
"It may not be glamerous, but its good, honest work"   
"How much is this quart of milk?"   
"12 dollars"   
-SIMPSONS   
*****   
CHAPTER FOUR   
  
"No Break For the Working Girls"   
  
Jam Pony X-Press   
The next day   
  
Cree tried not to look uncomfortable at the guy who was scrutinizing her under his thick framed glasses. "I assume you have no experience like the rest of these kids."   
  
Cree had to suppress a laugh at his remark. She had 'skills' just not of the messenger type. The 'delivery' side had been her main focus for years. "I can ride a bike. I can read. That's all the 'experience' I need for a job like this."   
  
Normal looked at this new girl who stood before him in cut off jeans and a blue T-shirt. She had a smart and quick mouth, but so did every employee here. "I'm giving you a week to prove to me you aren't a waste of my time."   
  
"Appreciate it." Cree responded.   
  
Normal just shooed her away from his desk "Bikes are against the wall, lockers are out and about. Find one of both, and come back here for your first run."   
  
Cree found a vacant locker, and shoved the little bit of money she still had inside. She adjusted the bandana on her hair that she had found on the road. Walking out of the locker area she went in search of a decent bike. One had a flat, and the other's seat was so old and torn, it made that sheet in the brothel bed look like a luxury item.   
  
"You got the bike leftovers to choose from." Max called out, slightly surprised at seeing Cree here, but glad that she didn't have to hunt all over Seattle for her.   
  
Cree looked up at Max "I guess all the people I met last night work here." she picked her wheels, the one with the shit for a seat winning out.   
  
"It pays." Max informed, trying to think of a way to approach her on what she needed to tell her. How do you ask a former sex slave if they wouldn't 'mind' playing a little game of laying low? She finally decided on a slightly indirect approach. "What was the name of that song you were singing last night?"   
  
"It's called 'From the Ashes'" Cree responded "I forgot who sang it. Hell I forgot I even remembered it until last night."   
  
"Running takes a lot out of a girl." Max said   
  
Cree looked at her cryptically. What was that suppose to mean? "I wouldn't know."   
  
"I'm sure you do." Max replied, going for direct now. She inched closer to the other girl. "I know things about you that are important to save your life. This can be perceived anyway you like, but this is not a threat."   
  
"My life is perfectly fine THANK you." Cree barked back, getting edgy at the road this conversation was headed. She started dragging her bike to the front to get her first package.   
  
Max's hand shot out and snagged her arm "Things suddenly seem clearer when you bust of a sex ring huh?" she went for blunt.   
  
Cree stared at her "How do know what happened to me?"   
  
"I have my ways." Max responded, seeing that all to familiar 'deer in the head lights' look from Cree. It was the same one she got anytime someone said they had connections with Lydeker or Maniticore. "But onto more pressing matters, your last place of residency wants you back REAL bad, if you know what I mean."   
  
"I don't care." Cree argued quietly "I'm not going back there."   
  
"Don't think they give a shit about that." Max released her arm.   
  
"Yea, well I don't give a shit about them." she snapped, "Those bastards locked me up like a dawg and only let me out when George Washington accompanied a man who wanted to fuck me." she stared at Max angrily "And here you come, hell bent on saving my ass. Why? Are you getting a cut?"   
  
This made Max upset. She grabbed Cree's arm again and pushed her against a locker.   
  
"Hey!" Normal called out, seeing Max's body slam "Don't rough house on my time."   
  
Max ignored him "I don't make deals with sleazes." she looked at the younger girl under her grip. "One phone call from me and you'd be back doin' formula 409's on yourself every time a 'big' man asked for you. I'm only savin' yo' ass because no girl deserves to be fucked like an animal. I don't expect ya to be my home girl or nothin'" she let go of Cree's arm.   
  
"Never said that." Cree replied, regaining her composure. "I just been screwed too many times to let my guard down."   
  
"You ain't the only one." Max replied, cooling down from her rampage. "Just hang here when your shift is over." she released Cree's arm, and headed in the direction of her locker.   
  
"What is that all about boo?" Cindy wanted to know, having watched the scene that just went down. "You got some issues with Cree?"   
  
Max shrugged "Not really."   
  
Cindy looked at her "Uh huh, and that's why the luv was flowin' all around you two sugas just now." she looked over at Cree, who had since straightened herself out, and was heading out the door with her first package. She leaned in closer "Original Cindy may not be super enhanced like her girl, but she knows the "shit fests" when she sees them."   
  
"I don't have any dealio with Cree, she has thangs that she needs to deal with."Max finally admitted to her friend.   
  
"Like what?" Cindy wanted to know.   
  
"Bip, bip, bip ladies." Normal interrupted "Being lazy doesn't pay."   
  
"Kinda like that issue about that stick shoved up Normal's ass." Max responded with a sigh.   
  
"I hear that." Cindy agreed, "Better get going before he starts talkin' 'bout the days of dependant workers." she slung her backpack on her shoulder. "If you don't want to tell what's goin' down between you and that sweet lookin' thang Orginal Cindy respects that." she paused "But after office hours, I'm gonna nag ya until you spill."   
  
"Can't get water out of a stone." Max remarked "But knock yourself out if ya want." she rolled her bike towards the door.   
  
"Aiight." Cindy stated "Later suga." she headed out the door to start her day. 


	5. Watch the Steel

*****   
  
"Can I ask you a question?"   
"Yeah"   
"Were you born a prick?"   
-Max and Zack "411 on the DL"   
******   
  
CHAPTER FIVE   
  
"Watch the Steel"   
  
Third and Davis   
Downtown Seattle   
  
"I need a signature." Cree informed the man standing in front of her in nothing but his bathrobe. She tried not to shudder at the way he was eyeing her with a look that said "I want it"   
  
"I can give you something else you need." he leered at her, desire written plainlyin his eyes.   
  
"All I need it a name." she shot back, trying to keep her hands steady, as sheshoved the signature sheet in his face.   
  
"Fine baby, play it your way." he snatched the clip board from her and scrawled something done on it. "But if you come by later, we can play it mine."   
  
Cree didn't respond to that, and turned to walk back over to where she left her bike.   
  
She kept getting the strangest feeling she was being watched. Turning around she came face to face with Max, who had parked her bike near hers.   
  
"Why are you following me?" Cree asked curtly, staring at her.   
  
Max dismounted her bike and snagged the parcel out of her backpack "Not huntin'you girl." she informed, walking towards her "Just happen to run into to ya on my way to hand off this." she held up the package in her hand, and breezed past Cree. She headed up the stairs of the next apartment over from where Cree had made her delivery.   
  
She pounded on the door with one hand. The resident of the house came out. "Yea?"   
  
Max shoved the package at him "Delivery from Jam Pony."   
  
The man took it from her, shaking its contents.   
  
"I'm gonna need you scrawl." Max pointed out, holding up the clipboard.   
  
"You could pay me later babe." he sneered.   
  
Max rolled her eyes, and looked over inside the building. She could see a three year old boy on the floor, and hear a woman talking in the distance. "Don't think yo' woman would appreciate that." she smiled coyly "but we couldget her to sign, and give her the 411 of why."   
  
This made the man swipe the sheet from her with quick movements. He handed it back to her three seconds later. "There ain't nothin' wrong with scopin'" he argued.   
  
The boy inside caught site of Max, and smiled. She smiled back "Yea there is."she snapped, taking the sheet from him.   
  
She headed back over to her bike, and noticed that Cree was still there "Now who's tailin'?" Max shot out, mounting her bike.   
  
"Just wanted to learn the skills of the game." she argued "Master of the Arts sort of thing."   
  
Max laughed quietly at that "You picked the wrong person for that kinda stuff." she started pedaling "Catch you after your shift." she called over her shoulder.   
  
Cree didn't say anything, and watched the other girl pedal away. But, she caught something that Max didn't. A beat up pick up was veering all over the road, the driver obviously drunk or stoned, or both. It was headed on a collision course right towards her.   
  
Cree didn't really know what she was doing, but she ran faster the she had ever done, before, even on the track team. /Shit, I've seen enough of girls I just met dying by idiots like that/ "Watch out!" she shouted, trying to push her out of the way, as tires squeaked, and the roar of an engine boomed in her ears. 


	6. The Falling Out of the Idiots

*****   
  
"I'm no internest, but I think I'm developing some bleeding here"   
-Car Commercial   
  
******   
  
CHAPTER SIX   
  
"The Falling Out of the Idiots"   
  
  
Both Max and Cree hit the pavement hard. One tire rolled over Max's leg half-way   
before she jerked it back. She sat up, and spit the gravel out of her mouth.   
A quick glance, at Cree confirmed that she had actually knocked her out of a   
collision. Cree was sitting up too, brushing dirt off her hands and from her hair.   
  
"Are you okay?" Cree asked Max looking at her "I've never done anything like   
that."   
  
Max smiled slightly "Fine. I have brothers, I'm use to the whole "duck and roll"   
thang." she cursed slightly at the tenderness of the tires' contact point on   
her leg. Nothing seemed broken, but the worn tires had left zig zagged gashes on   
her calf and quads, plus a large bruise from the point of impact.   
  
Cree was grimacing slightly from having landed on her over used and sore muscles.   
She just hoped to god that she hadn't started bleeding again. "Watch where you're   
going asshole!" she screamed to the boy who had gotten out of his truck, and was   
looking at them.   
  
The kid didn't look any older then Cree. His eyes were glazed from whatever shit he   
had pumped into his system, but they were also genuinely scared. "Don't report this,   
please, it was an accident. I didn't see you." he rambled on and on.   
  
Max stood up in one fast maneuver, half walking half limping over to the babbling   
idiot. "Shut up kid!" she growled, slamming him against his truck "Just shut the   
hell up! Running over people when you're wacked isn't an accident!" she pounded   
him back against his truck again "I'm not gonna waste my time with you anymore,   
but if you EVER pull anything like this again, I will give you a whole new meaning to   
the word "accident"   
  
The boys eyes showed fear as she let him go "I won't. I swear."   
  
"Whatever" Max spat back, pulling her bike out from where it landed under   
the body of the truck "Just get the hell outta here." she assessed the damage   
to the bike. A few scratches, and a small ding, but nothing major. /If this   
had been my baby; I would've strapped that idiot to the underbody of his truck   
and driven it through the rat infested roads of the Southside/   
  
The kid drove away, speeding down the road, before Max changed her mind.   
Cree carefully stood up. She touched herself, and felt no blood, just a   
lingering soreness. She picked up her bike as well.   
  
"By the way." Max broke in "Thanks for givin' me a shove." she brushed some   
dirt off the wound in her leg.   
  
"But you still got hurt." Cree pointed out, looking over at the bruised   
flesh, and the trickles of blood.   
  
"I heal fast." Max let her know, already feeling her hyped up genes kicking   
in, allowing the pain to become a dull throb. She mounted her bike, testing   
out her sore muscles on the pedals. The pain hit slightly when she pumped   
the pedals, but it was bearable.   
  
Cree mounted her bike "After my shift right?"   
  
Max smiled "Yep, need to do a lil convo time." 


	7. Insight

*****   
"I know who you are, and I know who your running from"   
-Logan to Max "Piolt"   
*****   
  
CHAPTER SEVEN   
  
"Insight"   
  
  
"Damn! that stings like a bitch." Max informed Bling who was cleaning out her   
cuts with peroxide. "Can't there be a more painless way of doing this?"   
  
"Sorry, not yet." Bling informed, running the cotton swab over the scrapes   
on her leg. "There's a hell of a lot of dirt in here."   
  
"That's what happens when you take a roll on the road." she let him know.   
"Small price to pay for bein' alive."   
  
Bling continued to flush out the cuts with water and apply peroxide. he   
wrapped an Ace bandage around the bruised area, and safety pinned it together.   
"Done, nothing was broken. But the impact caused a sprain on your quads."   
  
Max shrugged "Could've been worse." she looked at her wrapped up thigh,   
rolling it around slightly "Don't even hurt that much."   
  
"That's part of my job." Bling told her with a grin.   
  
Max let his cockiness slide "Where'd Logan run off to?" She hadn't   
seen him since she had shown up with Cree half and hour ago.   
  
"He's talkin' to that girl you brought with ya, Cr-"   
  
"Cree." Max finished for Bling.   
  
"They're in the computer room." Bling went on. "He wouldn't have trailed too far   
while you're still here. He laughed to himself. When Max and Cree had walked   
through the door, Logan had taken one look at Max's scruffy and banged up form,   
and had snapped into such a concerned mode that Max had insisted that he play   
host to Cree somewhere else, 'cause Bling couldn't work with "distraught family"   
in the room."   
  
Max got up from the couch she had been sitting on "Thanks for the first aid   
Bling."   
  
"No problem girl." Bling answered back.   
  
She headed in the direction of Logan's computer room. He was sitting at his   
chair, with Cree on the small couch that was in there. He turned when he heard   
footsteps approaching "Hey." his words were soft, and concerned "Feelin' better?"   
  
"Pretty good." she told him "Some cuts, a sprain, but I'm okay, contrary   
to popular belief." she looked over at Logan accusingly.   
  
"I was just worried." he told her, watching as she gingerly sat down on   
the couch beside Cree. "You could've been hurt worse."   
  
"Well I'm not so don't get all protective of me. I have enough of that   
already." she made reference to Zack's over bearing attitude to keep her out   
of danger. She looked over at Cree, who sat quietly on the sofa, looking slightly   
intimidated. "You can trust us." Max reassured "Threatening to sell ya up the river   
was just a tactic to get you to talk."   
  
Cree sighed slightly "I don't trust anyone anymore. Not after-" she faltered "the   
positions I've been in."   
  
"That's understandable." Logan agreed, "You don't have to trust us one hundred   
percent, just talk to us, it might help."   
  
"That's what my boyfriend said." Cree spat "Just trust me baby, it'll be fine."   
she laughed humorlessly "Little shit had me meet him at some club, and he had   
two guys put the drop on me. Five hundred to sell me off, ca-ching, ca-ching."   
  
"How old were you when it happened?" Max inquired.   
  
"Fourteen." Cree responded "Most girls in my class had to only worry 'bout their   
boyfriends cheating on them, I had a guy who used me as merchandise."   
  
"What about your family?" Max began to run her own background check on Cree.   
  
Cree shrugged "Don't know. I lived in Portland. Guess they could've gone somewhere   
since then. Never got to make that "one phone call" like in prison."   
  
Logan could sense the defensiveness coming off Cree in waves. Years of being held   
against her will had hardened her. It was the same feeling he felt around Max when   
he tried to press an issue dealing with Manticore, the wounds just ran too deep.   
  
"I'm sure your family was worried as hell when you didn't come home." he stated.   
  
"Probably." Cree agreed, trying to sound light hearted "My lil sis. Jade was   
gonna meet me at the club later.." she broke off, laughin' humorlessly "I was   
goin' down there to sing, it was open mic night." her eyes adapted a far away   
look as she thought of Jade. Cree and Jade, such unique names, her mom had   
loved symbolism, she didn't settle for Mary or Sara, she wanted uniqueness with   
her daughters. "I still remember the song." she smiled slightly. "Hero, by Mariah   
Carey. It had been done fifty times before, but I thought I could blow them away."   
  
"You probably would've." Max agreed "With that voice of yours."   
  
Cree shook her head, slightly glad for the change of subject "I chickened   
out on that one at the last minute, I went for something more mystical."   
she broke off and sang a part of the song   
  
"Spare a little candle, save some light for me   
  
Figures up ahead, moving in the trees   
  
White skin in linen, perfume on my wrist   
  
And a full moon that hangs over, these dreams in the mist."   
  
She stopped singing, turning to face her "audience"   
  
"That was amazing." Logan commented. Max hadn't been exaggerating about Cree's voice.   
  
Cree shrugged it off "Singin' won't save your ass in this world." she shifted   
in the chair, grimacing at the soreness that was still there. Another look was   
past to Max and Logan "Why do you want to help me?"   
  
Silence hung in the air for several seconds, before it was broken by Max   
"Can't really explain it, just something I-mean *we* have to do." she tripped   
over her words slightly. Even though Logan was helping out as well, Max felt   
a connection with the young runaway.   
  
Logan didn't say anything about Max's slip up, he glanced at Cree. She couldn't   
be much younger then Max. But, her eyes had that same "escaped from hell" look that   
Max carried around. She was also hard, the ever present stance of a street wise   
girl evident in all her movements and postures. 


	8. Missing Time

sorry this took so long to post..really sorry...  
******  
  
CHAPTER EIGHT   
  
"Missing Time"  
  
After Cree talked to Max and Logan for the better part of an hour, Max decided to head back to work. Despite Logan's protests that she didn't have too, she felt she had to explain to Normal what happened, before he thought of something way off base and stupid, a norm with the man. Plus, she'd rather not get Cree fired her first day.  
  
"Well, well the stragglers came back to plead for their jobs" Normal taunted when Max and Cree re-entered the building He glanced at his watch "Three hours, that's a record even for you missy." he pointed at Max. "And you" Cree was now the subject of his scrutiny "You aren't making a very good impression on your employer your first day on the-"  
  
"Can the slave driver act-"Max interrupted Normal's tirade. She placed her sprained leg over on his desk, on top of some management papers. Not that it didn't hurt, but she needed to prove a point "Ya kinda get late after you've just been sideswiped." She looked at her wrapped quads "Injury on the job. Don't that mean I get to hear the sounds of company ca-chings fallin' round me?" Her head whipped back up to look at Normal with a look that said "stick that in your employer belt and bip it."  
  
Normal pulled his glasses down from his face "I'll choose to ignore your untimely lateness if you  
don't file this clumsiness with anyone with a law degree."  
  
"Whatever." Max yanked her leg back down. Normal always managed to put a double negative affecting everyone but himself in his lectures.  
  
"Did I get you fired?" Cree asked, feeling slightly guilty.  
  
"It's fine." Max stated straight out. "Normal can't fire us, no one else will work this kind of crap and he knows it."  
  
"Max." Sketchy approached where she was standing. "Does it hurt?"  
  
"Stings a bit." Max returned  
  
"How did it happen?" he started to reach out and touched the bandage  
  
"Enough with the third degree boy." Cindy warned, slapping his hand back "You ain't Kojak." she looked at Max "You okay boo? Need Original Cindy to put the smack down on anyone?"  
  
"Yeah to the first thang, No to the second." Max answered "Some kid just was joy riding, but  
Cree saved my ass, knocked me out of the way"  
  
Cindy looked to Cree "Damn girl." she paused for a minute "You savin' my boo, puts you in good with this girl."  
  
Cree shrugged "It was no big deal" she winced slightly  
  
Max noticed, "You okay?"  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"No you ain't" Max responded quickly, seeing how Cree was holding herself  
  
Cree looked at the older girl. She was very perceptive for just a messenger. "Need to use the can" she headed off for the ladies room.  
  
"Hey just because you got swiped doesn't mean you get to quit early"  
  
"She's usin' the bathroom Sherlock" Max barked back "That hardly counts as her quitin' "  
  
In one of the two dirty stalls in the ladies room Cree examined herself. That road tumble had caused her to start bleeding again. She could still smell the seamen from the last customer. She hadn't taken a bath in days. /I must stink like hell, how could anyone not notice?/ She had bald spots and patches from his groping and filthy hands ripping off her pubic hair. /Don't like'em with a lot of hair"/ That flash back was so strong, that it made her physically jerk forward. She shook her head to clear it, and flushed the toilet.  
  
"Sure your aiight?" Max questioned after Cree emerged from the restroom.  
  
"I'm good" Cree responded "All in all, I say it's not a bad first day"  
  
"It'll be better tonight boo" Cindy sensed the sarcasm in her voice "When we hit Crash"  
  
Cree looked confused "We?"  
  
Cindy nodded "You're a good woman to hang with Cree" she looked over at Max "ain't that right suga?"  
  
Max smiled "Defiantly, so-" she stared at Cree "how 'bout it? you in?"  
  
Cree shrugged "beats doin' nothin' all night" 


	9. One Night at Crash

*****  
*****  
  
CHAPTER NINE  
  
"One Night at Crash"  
  
  
"So what's Cree's dealio?" Cindy maneuvered her foosball men to intercept the ball. "Seems too wound up for a nice lookin' gurl"  
  
Max glanced up from their game to the woman sipping a beer at a table. "She's got issues"  
  
"Define that girl" Cindy scored a point.  
  
"She-" Max looked around to make sure no one would hear her "was a prostitute"   
  
Cindy looked shocked, but not upset "Someone want more then she wanted to put out?" her hands turned the bar mechanisms on the table.  
  
"She wasn't workin' street corners" Max scored a point "She ran away from a brothel"  
  
Now Cindy looked upset "Some sick freaks in this world doin' that to a girl"  
  
Max nodded in agreement "Logan says their's a tale on her, so she's keepin' it quiet for a while, so keep this on the DL kay?"  
  
"Hey Original Cindy knows when to keep her mouth shut" Cindy abandoned the game after Max scored the wining shot "C'mon, let's go hang with sista girl"  
  
"Who won?" Cree asked as Cindy and Max claimed chairs at the table  
  
"Max did" Cindy informed "My girl's got skills"  
  
"All 4 One" Cree made reference to the old R&B group she used to listen to as a kid, singing snatches of one of their songs "Got the potion in the motion to cure my ills, she's got" she tapped her hand on the table three times "skills"  
  
Cindy laughed, "Remember that one. My mom's use to hate it cause I blew up the base of my radio when I had it playin'"  
  
"Liked that group as a kid Max?" Cree asked the other woman at the table  
  
"Didn't listen to that kind of music that much music then," Max stated. Music was never introduced at Manticore, except for the classical kind used during battle royals to keep the mind "sharp" When Logan had played Mozart's Requiem once, she could still hear the of gunfire and cries of those who were hit during a long gruesome training mission. "Mostly it was classical, Brahms, Chopin, Bizet. Had peeps who liked to beat intelligence into my head with that stuff"  
  
Cree's expression changed at the word "beat" "Know that feeling" she began to play with the drops of water that had formed on the outside her mug. In the early days of her life in hell she had often hummed a song under her breath while a client was abusing her. One guy got so fed up with it that he busted her lip open to get her to be quiet. He only paid half of what she was "worth" so she had a solid beating that night by her pimp. "Got messed with a lot to be someone"  
  
"Why don't you write a song bout that Cree?" Cindy suggested "Got the voice for it"  
  
Cree laughed at the idea "Don't mean I can write songs, just like to sing'em"  
  
"Sounds just like my boo here" Cindy shot Max a look out of the corner of her eye "Claims she has no voice, but Original Cindy knows different, she's got pipes, proves it every time she lays out losers"  
  
"Not the same thing" Max objected   
  
Cindy blew her off "Don't give me none of that." She nudged her friend with her shoulder "Lay some on suga angel"  
  
Max shot her a look "You gotta be kidding"  
  
"Unless Original Cindy's goin' straight tonight by kickin' it with one of these morons, I'm true."  
  
Max looked at her with the same face she had when she couldn't get her baby started "No chance of   
changin' your thoughts?"  
  
Cindy shook her head "no"  
  
Max sighed "Fine, but if anyone starts throwing vegetables, I'm out" she paused briefly before starting to sing:  
  
"Some people say that I am not the same girl   
They say I think that I am in my own world   
What makes them think that I have changed, yeah-"  
  
Max's voice did not fluctuate in pitch as well as Cree's but it was surprisingly good. Her pitch was deeper as well, but still velvety with a hint of vibrato  
  
"A little dough cannot erase my problems   
Me like you I have to try and solve them   
Yes everything is quite the same"  
  
"I'm just trying to be me   
Doing what I've got to do   
Some people think that I'm   
Just sittin' on top of the world"  
  
Cindy did a step back at Max's singing. She then got the biggest smile on her face "Keep bringin' it girl"  
  
"I'm just trying to be me-" Max went on in the song-"Proving what I've got to prove. Some people think that I'm Just sittin' on top of the world-" she couldn't finish the rest because of the hands that grabbed her by her shirt front   
  
"I have something else you can sit on top of baby" the man who had grabbed Max looked her up and down "You are one HOT lookin' bitch, so much to work"  
  
"Scuse me?" Cindy stated in a high pitch "say what?" voice. She stood up "Dumb and dumber reject, you best get your nasty hands off my girl go before I lay a smack down on your ass" she pulled her hand back in a readied position.  
  
"Relax honey" the man pushed her hand down "You'll get your turn next"   
  
Max felt one of his hands grope her through her shirt. /son-of-a/ She crushed his wandering hand in-between her fist "Wanna watch it with the hands jerk?"  
  
"You just got such big melons, can't resist a nice sensation-" he was cut off by Max grabbing his neck   
  
"Yeah well if I feel them anywhere on me again, down south won't be able to feel any nice sensations for a long time" she threw him to the floor "Don't ever touch me again"  
  
"HEY!" a man's voice shouted, "Now why'd you have to do that to my boy?" a tall blonde stood up, walking slowly towards Max. "That wasn't smart babe" he rolled up the sleeves of his flannel t-shirt.  
  
"News flash, your boy deserved it" Cindy snapped back   
  
"Sure you want to run your mouth girl?" the man growled, he was now face to face with Max "That friend of yours better shut up before I do to her what I'm about to do to you"  
  
"Not gonna do anything to me" Max informed, "So just take to steppin' back to your hole Farmer Brown"  
  
The man's face got angrier "You got a big mouth baby," he shoved her back "don't think that's right in a bitch"  
  
Max dodged the punch he threw at her, "I ain't a bitch" she kicked him in the ribs, he reeled back but didn't fall.  
  
"That the way it is" he pulled out a knife "Just because I'd enjoy doin' you don't mean I'm not gonna mess you up" he slashed at her.  
  
Max slammed his own hand into his forehead before back flipping in the air to land behind him. She jumped up and kicked his feet out from under him. He tripped her, but she caught herself on her hands "Not that easy" she broke wood with his arm taking the knife from him "Now" she had the blade pointed at his jugular vein "Back the hell off of us, or I'm gonna carve out a new pocket for your knife" She got off him closing the knife hard in her fist.  
  
"You aiight?" Cindy looked at Max, knowing that physically she was unscratched, but she looked pissed.  
  
"Coo'" Max fell back into her seat "I should've just taken the vegetable throwing"  
  
Cree laughed, drinking from her beer mug. "You are strong girl" she complimented "And your voice  
is great"  
  
Max shrugged "Not nutin' special" she patted the younger girl on the shoulder "You got the vocals"  
  
Cree smiled a bit. Her eyes raised, and then she suddenly sucked in her breath, nearly knocking the beer mug off the table.  
  
Max saw the frantic look in her eyes "What's up?" she touched her shoulder again "You okay?"  
  
"Cree?" Cindy started to become suspicious.   
  
Cree kept looking straight ahead, at the man who had just entered the bar "Whisky boy, make it strong"  
  
/FLASH: "Don't like'em with a lot of hair" he grabbed at her/ Those same hands now grasped the glass of whisky.   
  
"Guys I gotta go" Cree jumped up from her chair "Have to take care of something"  
  
"Only got in a week ago and you'z gots business already" Cindy stated   
  
"Yeah I do" Cree snapped back "Look sorry for cutting it short, but the placed I'm crashed out is  
right near a Sector station, they'll ride me if I break curfew, I'm gone, I'm sorry" she her jacket and all but ran out the door.  
  
"Something's up with her" Cindy informed after Cree disappeared "Think it has somethin' to do with three legs over there" she nodded towards the man who had just entered the bar "Wanna check it?"  
  
"Defiantly" Max took a last sip of her drink "Catch ya at work"  
  
"Kay" Cindy said as Max stood up "late suga"  
  
"Cree hold up!" Max called out to the girl on the sidewalk "Wanna tell me what's the dealio?"  
  
"I need to go Max" Cree sounded really keyed up, she was running her hand jerkily through her black hair.  
  
"Who was that guy?" Max asked up front  
  
Cree looked away at the street signs for a second, before shifting her attention back to Max. She  
still didn't say anything.   
  
"Is he a-"  
  
"No he's not" Cree knew what she was going to say "But he might as well be. He had my number  
before I ran" she was biting her lip so hard that Max expected to see blood "I keyed his car to get out. He musta talked to someone." she started to pace "Now he knows where I am, and he'll tell that pimp" her voice cracked "Son of a bitch will take me back I know it!" she was getting hysterical  
  
"Calm it down" Max broke in "No one's doin' anything to you so long as I have a say in it"  
  
"You don't know these guys Max!" Cree returned hastily "I'm worth one g" she pointed to her chest, my pimp probably offered him the head money to bring me back" she was back to pulling at her hair.  
  
The doors of the bar suddenly opened, and the sandy haired man stepped out into the night.  
  
"Max get outta here!" she hissed "You're too nice looking, you'd be 2 g's easy" she backed up against the building, frantically watching the man comb over the night.  
  
"Not leavin' you here as fresh meat" Max yanked her hand "C'mon" she pulled Cree over to her Ninja. "Get on"  
  
"Max you're insane!" Cree hissed, "You'll get yourself sold off"  
  
"Just get on!" Max barked, cranking the engine.  
  
The sandy haired man turned as the Ninja revved up "Hey! that's MY bitch!"  
  
/So sick of that damn word!/ Max raised her kick stand, and took off.  
  
The man pulled out onto the road beside Max, honking loudly "Slut! You're mine!" he sideswiped  
the Ninja, making it dip on the road.  
  
Max threw force with her body onto the Ninja's other side to balance the bike "You okay?" she  
stated to Cree  
  
"Hell no!" Cree stated honestly  
  
"There's an alley comin' up that's too narrow for an El Camino, gonna be tighter then a matchbox, but there's an access road after it"  
  
"You ever ridden this thing through it before?" Cree asked in a yell  
  
"No" Max admitted "But we don't have a choice" she revved up bike, pushing up the speed to eighty-five "Hang on!" Max spotted the alley a few feet ahead of them. The whole thing was only one and half foot in width.  
  
"BITCH!" the sandy haired man pulled out a revolver and started to shoot at the tires of the Ninja  
  
"Max watch it!" Cree called out as the tires of the Ninja squelched into a turn  
  
*****   
  
SORRY! I know this is a terrible place to end this after waiting this long for new chapters. I'll  
get the next chapters sooner then these promise! Just that REAL Dark Angel is commin' on soon,  
and I need to get this spell checked and sent before 9:00.   
  
Oh and the song Max was singing was "Sittin' on Top of the World" by Brandy and Mace. Took a while to find the "right song" Wanted something that reflects Max's life, not some random pop princess stuff, (which isn't bad, but c'mon, can you see Max singing "Oops! I did it again"?  
please!)  
  
Will get more chapters hopefully this weekend, which is now. I'm not a review junkie, who will  
stop production and unleash my evil minions if I don't have my review quota in, but I appreciate   
them just the same. 


	10. Nighttime

CHAPTER TEN  
  
"Nighttime"  
  
A/N: Sorry to leave you hanging like that...  
  
*****   
  
The Ninja blazed through the tiny little slit in-between the walls, and just as Max said, there was an access road directly after it, the two paths all but melded into each other. Moonlight shone off Max's riding glasses once the bike reached the street again.  
  
Max pulled the bike to the shoulder after a minute "See him anywhere?" her eyes were already scanning the night with her transgenic night vision.  
  
Cree looked into the blackness as well "Think you lost him" her heart was pounding so hard she felt it would burst out onto the road.  
  
"You doin' aiight?" Max asked of Cree, noticing how hard she was breathing.  
  
"That man-" Cree pointed into the blackness "If he died from a bear tearing off his genitals and eating out his heart, I'd laugh" she idly rubbed a bruise that she had gotten the day before.  
  
"It's getting late" Max could see Sector Cops lining the road, preparing for the nightly curfew. She scanned where she was. There was no way she could get back home before "Lights Out" Plus her place wasn't accessible on this road, and Mr. Makes You Feel Good was probably still driving around. "C'mon" she pulled down her glasses "Let's blaze"  
  
*****   
  
"Come on in" Max opened the door, after picking the lock "Take a seat"  
  
"You sure your man won't mind a visitor this late?" Cree was hesitant to just make herself at home in the penthouse of someone she just met yesterday.  
  
"He's not my man" Max corrected "and he won't care. Logan's into the whole defend the down trodden thing, so just sit" she kicked a chair beside her.  
  
Cree sat down in the brown leather /very masculine, but comfy/  
  
"Max?" Logan's bedroom door opened. He was still dressed because he had been reading because he   
couldn't fall asleep. "What's up? You okay?" he stepped out of the shadows. "This is a late visit even for you"  
  
"I'm fine dad" Max reassured, poking around in his kitchen cabinets "We came by for a lil DL time"  
  
/We?/ Logan looked confused, but then spotted Cree sitting in the chair in his living room. "You guys okay?" he repeated his earlier question. Cree looked really edgy, fidgeting in her chair.  
  
Max came out of the kitchen with a glass of water in her hand "Here," she handed it to Cree "You're dehydrated from all that sweating you've done"  
  
"Thanks" Cree stated simply, taking the glass from her. She gulped down half of it at once. After she was done she looked over at Logan "Max brought me here Mr. Cale-"  
  
"Logan," Logan corrected Cree "My dad was Mr. Cale"  
  
"*Logan*" Cree went on "This man, a customer from my "job" he was tailing us, he wants my head   
money, tried to run Max and me off the road" she was still ringing her hands.  
  
"You're safe here Cree," Logan reassured "Did he see where you were heading?"  
  
"Slid through a back way" Max informed "Saw no bad ass losers on my tail" she sat on the edge of the chair "Okay if she stays the night?"  
  
Logan nodded, looking at Cree "You can take the guestroom" he looked over at Max "Take my room Max, I'll take the sofa. Curfew started already, and you know what those guys are like"  
  
"I'll stay" Max let him know "But I ain't kickin' you out of your bedroom. I'LL take the couch" before he could object she added "Probably won't even sleep"  
  
====  
  
Cree pulled off her blue t-shirt. Besides this one, she had about four or five others she managed  
to buy with her meager salary at Jam Pony. She stood in front of the large mirror erected on top of the mahogany dresser in her cream colored bra. Her arms and shoulders bore healing bruises from the beating her pimp had given her two days before she ran.  
  
/"Worthless bitch!" the pimp hit her with a folding chair "You don't sleep when I have customers  
lined up!"/  
  
Her straight black hair was dotted with dust, and so were the long lashes that rested above  
almond shaped brown eyes. /"You're eyes are so nice Cree" Jade looked at her older sister,   
laying on her bed in the room they shared. Fourteen-year-old Cree looked back to her baby sister  
"Really think so?" Jade's eyes were the same shape and color as her twelve year old sister "They  
look like yours" "Uh uh" Jade argued "Mine are like slits cut in paper, yours are dangerous"  
Cree laughed "To who?" "Men" Jade responded, "You could do so much damage sis," Cree  
smiled "thanks"/  
  
/"Jack?" almond eyes scanned the darkness looking for her boyfriend "Ja-" she was cut off  
when she felt someone cover her mouth  
  
"Baby gurl, come with us" a gun was pointed at her chest  
  
"JACK!" Cree saw her boyfriend, a tall youth of sixteen, brown hair, blue eyes. He approached  
her   
  
"HELP ME!" she screamed, kicking at her capturers   
  
Jack didn't acknowledge her, instead he looked to the men "You got the cash?"  
  
One of the men threw him a wad of bills "Little fresh kid, but" the man rubbed Cree's arm  
"she can be broken"  
  
"Jack?" Cree didn't understand "What the hell are you doing?" she used words she never  
did before   
  
"Sorry Cree" Jack's words were sarcastic "You were great and all, but I've outgrown kids,  
and it's a good way to get money" he actually waved a twenty at her.  
  
"NO!" Cree shouted as she was shoved in a van, "Jack! " a gun butt met her forehead/  
  
Cree came back to the here and now. She pulled on the tank top and pj bottoms that Max had told her was in her boyfriend's bottom dresser drawer. The black tank matched her hair. Jack always complimented her on that, said that Chinese girls were so beautiful and exotic. That was her breaking point, she fell hard for the 5'7 145 lb Junior. He was a bad ass, something untamed, and she was drawn to that.  
  
/Look where that got me/ Cree sat on the bed, folding her legs up under her body. The light  
from the lamp cast shadows on the down comforter. /Wherever you are Jack Warren, if I find you  
I'll kill you/  
  
The bedroom door opened  
  
Cree jerked out of her thoughts  
  
"Sorry" Logan apologized "I didn't mean to scare you"  
  
"I'm good" Cree responded  
  
/She's so much like Max/ Logan stepped more into the guestroom "Just wanted to see if you were  
set in here"  
  
"Yeah" Cree answered "Thanks for letting me stay here Logan, been a while since I could let my  
guard down for a while ya know?" her brown eyes looked at his for a brief moment /Damn, their  
so blue, no wonder Max likes to look at them, you could get so lost-/  
  
"You're welcome" Logan stepped right up to the bed. She was so young, but her eyes were hard,  
tired, confused. She had been to hell and back. "Max and I will be outside if you need anything"  
  
"Give her a shout for me" Cree broke in "Tell her thanks for everythin' she's done" this time  
she looked Logan completely in the eye   
  
"I will" Logan informed. He paused for a brief moment "Goodnight"  
  
"Same" Cree responded as the door shut /He's not like the others, like HIM, or Ryan/   
Men still scared her, she had been abused too many times, but Logan was different.   
  
Cree allowed her head to fall back on the pillow, but she didn't go to sleep, she was  
afraid to sleep, sleep meant dreams, and she knew what they would be about  
  
*****   
  
Hope that was good after the cliff hanger I left you with. I'll get the other chapters done  
soon too, between this and Choices I've been busy, but with spring break coming up, I'll  
have more time to write, yay for me!  
  
Cree's sister Jade will show up later, I wanted to introduce their relationship first.  
Also YES Jack (Cree's exboyfriend) is a twisted SOB, who will get his just due.  
  
Heehee, did you like my lil implied M/L shipper moments, and the little things Cree  
said and thought about the pair? That will go more in later chapters  
  
R/R please, and look for the next installment soon 


	11. Jack be Nimble, Jack be Quick

Chapter 12  
  
this chapter went through several titles before I finally settled on this one  
  
"Jack be Nimble, Jack be Quick"  
  
*****  
  
"Hey sweet thing" Jack Warren was camped out near a wall outside the checkpoint between two  
sectors "Bet I can put a smile on your face" his eyes traveled up Max's frame with the speed of a fast  
paced snail. He actually licked his lips, and arched his eyebrows, sending them up into his mass of  
blonde hair  
  
"Bet I can take yours off" Max snarled back to him, she showed the cop her sector pass, wheeling  
her bike through.  
  
"Keep it moving" the sector cop waved his hand at the line that had formed  
  
"Nice ride for a nice honey" Jack threw out after Max was on the other side, mounting the Ninja  
  
"Bite me!" Max spat back /dumb prick/ She revved up the engine and took off. /Guys like a  
perverted version of Zack, and that's just NASTY to think about/  
  
Max killed the engine once she pulled into the "parking lot" at Jam Pony, locking her baby up before  
heading inside.  
  
"Late-"   
  
"Spare me" Max broke in before Normal could begin his morning tirade. She headed over to her  
locker "Anyone seen Cree?"  
  
"She's getting some java" Sketchy informed "I haven't needed any since she started working here"  
Sketchy stated in a dream like voice, staring at Cree stirring her swill "that, is a nice looking woman"  
  
"Boy-" Cindy approached him "If Natalie knew half the stuff that was going on in that warped  
brain of yours she'd leave your sorry ass before you could blink. Now move" Cindy shoved  
him "Need some time with Max"  
  
After Sketchy left, Cindy turned to Max "So I waited up for my girl, but my little suga didn't come  
home last night" she had an "I knew it" tone of voice "You and your squeeze do some late night  
connecting?"  
  
"No" Max put a damper on Cindy's thinking "That guy at Crash, he was a brothel scout, tryin' to  
get Cree back, had to make a detour at Logan's 'cause he was tailing us. Almost crashed my baby"  
  
Cindy's smile vanished at that remark "If I see him, gonna put a smack down on his ass, messin' with my   
girls"  
  
"This is about me isn't it?" Cree appeared from the back, taking one last sip of her coffee before  
chucking the cup in the trash. She looked more rested then last night, but not any less on edge. She  
had left Logan's early, even beating Max out the door.  
  
"It's nuthin' bad" Max argued  
  
"With me it's always bad" Cree pointed out   
  
"Need to cut that out girl" Cindy informed "Don't diss where disses don't belong"  
  
"Hey, Pippy Longstocking and Crew" Normal called out, referencing the old children's books because  
of Cree's jet black hair pulled into two pigtails "Bip bip, we work not talk"  
  
Cree caught the box Normal threw at her "Guess I better get started" she grabbed a bike, stuffing the  
box in her pack.  
  
"Hey honey" a guy called out after her, catching site of her slim figure, and liking what he saw  
  
Cree ignored him, still moving out the doorway. /"Honey, c'mon, this is what you want"  
"I'm not sure," Cree argued, looking out over the night sky. There were tons of stars, and  
nothing but the sounds of crickets because of how far out into the boonies they were "I am" the boy argued  
"Your so amazing, I just want to prove how much I feel that" he touched her hair, wrapping it up  
in his hand/  
  
"Jack" her words were just a breathy whisper, she ducked behind the wall, staring back inside  
He was there, talking to Normal. Almost exactly the same as he had been three years ago,  
except he was taller, and lost the crew cut. /He didn't recognize me, did I change that much?  
I only grew about three inches/ Even though she couldn't think of why her sleazy ex didn't  
know who she was when he saw her, she had changed from that innocent fourteen year old  
that use to hang on him, she had grown up and become harder.   
  
She turned and headed out again, moving very fast.  
  
"My sistah" Herbal looked at her, when she nearly collided with him "In a hurry I see"  
  
"Yeah, I'm late Herbal, sorry bout that" she didn't offer him anything more and pedaled her bike   
away down the dirty street.  
  
"This has to get out today" Jack waved a box at Normal's face   
  
"You think I care what HAS to be done kid?" Normal shot back "This is the Pulse world,  
nothing is fast anymore" he took the box from him "I'll hand it off, but I'm not promising you  
anything"  
  
"Appreciate it big guy" Jack pounded on the desk  
  
"Punk" Normal mumbled when Jack left   
  
"Whoa" Jack took a step back, when Max bumped into him "Hello again baby, this is fate  
the way we keep meeting up, how bout you give me your name and we consummate that?"  
  
"And who the hell let you out of your hole?" Max didn't even look at him "Blow off scuzz"  
  
"Max keep your mind on your work" Normal interrupted "Or you won't have any"  
he stacked three boxes on the counter for her "bip, bip, bip"  
  
"Max," Jack tested out the name "Fit's such a FINE looker, mmmmMMM"   
  
Max zipped up her pack, and grabbed Jack by his collar "Did what you came here for,  
so get going before you loose the ability to walk upright" she let him go, and shoved past him  
  
"Take my advice kid" Normal informed after Max left "Don't mess with her. She may look good,  
but she has the biggest attitude, and the strength to match"  
  
"I'm up for a challenge," Jack stated with a sly smile, heading out of the delivery service  
  
"Why do these kids always hang around here?" Normal muttered, leafing through the papers on his  
desk.  
  
Jack climbed back into his yellow Gremlin, adjusting his rear view mirrors. He spotted Max, leaving on her bike  
/She's damn fine, be great to mess with, bet she'd also be worth a lot/ He turned on the engine, and followed  
her down the road  
  
*****   
  
Manchester Ave.  
  
Max dismounted her bike, grabbing the box out of her pack and trudging up the stairs. She was starting  
to feel a little off, which could only mean that she was about to experience a seizure, and she wanted to  
get this thing handed off and go home /Screw Normal, I'll take a sick day/  
  
"Thank you" Max stated tiredly to the elderly man who had signed for the package. She moved slowly back to  
her bike, climbing on it, and heading back down the road. Her head was starting to buzz now, making pedaling  
difficult /I'll drop this thing off tomorrow. Normal will be pissed but, who cares?/ As she continued her trip  
home she noticed how a yellow Gremlin kept following her. /What's his deal?/ Max ignored the driver for a  
few more yards, but when a light changed to red, the guy suddenly swerved in front of her.   
  
Max was thrown off the bike /What the hell?/ she spit dirt out her mouth, standing up quickly in time to  
see the driver right up in her face "What part of "blow off " don't you understand?"  
  
"I just want to get to know you more" Jack spewed this out in one breath "Just give it a chance baby"  
  
"Lemme think 'bout that" Max returned, going silent for all of one second "No"  
  
Jack grabbed her by the arm "I didn't mean you had a choice"  
  
/Uh uh, he did not just do that/ "Wanna let go of that?" she yanked her arm back, nailing him in the face with his own  
fist. She moved to sidekick him, but found herself on the ground again, because of her seizure fogged brain.  
  
Jack kneeled down next to her "C'mon baby, I can make a lot of a sugar like you" he stroked her face  
  
Max head butted him "Get off me!" she climbed back to her feet, heading over to his Gremlin. With super  
human strength she ripped open the hood, punching a hole in the radiator, making hot steam spew out of  
the engine. This action burned her knuckles from the leaking fluid, but she was to up on adrenaline to feel it.  
  
She climbed back on her bike, Jack coming up to her "Bitch! What the hell do you think you're doing?"  
he grabbed the handles of her bike, but this time when she moved to kick him, she was dead on  
  
"I said get off me prick!" she looked at him lying on the road "You might find it in your best interest to  
stay the hell away from me" she pumped the bike down the road  
  
*****  
  
Max somehow wound up not at home, but at Logan's. But right now she didn't care where the hell she was,  
and she wasn't about to truck it back to her place. She didn't even have energy to break the lock, so she   
pounded on the door with one closed fist. Her headache had gone from a light throb to an entire 1812 Overture  
run through, and she was sweating enough to start another Great Flood in the hallway.  
  
"Max?" Logan opened his door, seeing her standing there, leaning against the frame "What is it?"  
  
"Don't feel so good" was all she said, trying to focus on something other then the blurriness.   
  
"Come in" Logan didn't hide the worry in his voice, moving aside so she could enter the apartment.  
  
She took all of two steps before she lost her footing.  
  
"Whoa" Logan caught her before she took a header into his hardwood floor. "C'mon, you need to  
lie down on the couch" he felt her start to shake more violently, and supported her over to his couch  
so she wouldn't loose her footing.  
  
"Max?" he spoke to her worriedly, after she had sprawled out on her side. He offered her the meds,  
which she took without water. He noticed the burn on her hand "Where did this come from?" he  
examined the blistered flesh on the knuckles.  
  
"Radiator" she responded cryptically, tucking more into herself as the tremors continued.  
  
/I'll have to ask her about that later/ He watched her convulse, only being able to offer her  
minimal support as her body went through hell. Her hand was locked around his in a death  
squeeze the entire time. Eventually, she simply passed out from the strain.  
  
After a few minutes of Logan sponging down her face and neck, she came around looking  
at him bleary eyed.  
  
"Welcome back" Logan tried to sound light hearted, but her seizures always scared the hell out of him.  
During the time that she was unconscious, he had bandaged her hand to keep the flesh from becoming  
infected "How you feeling?"  
  
She shrugged "Not too bad, tired" she looked at her bandaged hand "Thanks doc"  
  
This produced a smile from him "You got this from a radiator?" he stated, "You don't even own a car"  
  
"Wasn't mine" Max informed "Some ass was following me home, nearly ran me off the road, so  
I messed up his ride"  
  
"Do you know his name?" Logan asked /so I can find him and beat that shit up for doing this to you/  
he added in his mind.  
  
"Never asked," Max went for honest "Just some random looser that I had to put straight" she shifted on  
the couch "You find anything else about those losers that were looking for Cree?" she went for a different  
angle.  
  
"Yeah" Logan responded "There was some man asking people about the whereabouts of an Asian  
"girlfriend" he wanted to reconcile with. He's been at three sectors already" Logan pulled something  
out of his lap "Don't have anything to go on other then a hover cam shot that was snapped when  
he was getting into his car" he showed her the picture  
  
Max started at the photo "That's the same car that almost mauled me"  
  
"Did you see the tags?"  
  
Max shook her head "I was kinda out of it, after I kicked his ass I just hauled it"  
  
"Maybe Cree knows something about it" Logan pointed out "If you can get her up here tonight,  
we can ask her about it"  
  
"Just hope it doesn't bring back bad memories for her" Max stated "Girl's been through a lot"  
  
/Like you/ Logan looked at her "She might feel better getting it out. Had to be hell keeping that  
in for three years"  
  
"Maybe" Max said around a yawn "Man, looks like I'm gonna wind up sacking out here. Work  
ends at five. I'll head down there in an hour and get her" she looked at him "You mind me here?"  
  
"Close your eyes Max" was his answer.  
  
*****   
  
I finally got this out, it took a few run through ideas. There wasn't much of Cree in here, but I wanted to  
establish Jack's character, and the idea of Max's seizure came to me so I ran with it. I'm suck a sucker  
for things like that. 


	12. "...because she's my sister"

Chapter 12 "...because she's my sister"  
  
A/N: Sorry this took so long to get up  
  
*****   
  
ENTRANCE OF JAM PONY  
  
Cree came back inside slowly /Please let him not be here anymore/ When she saw that it was "all clear" she wheeled her bike back through to her locker  
  
"You got a bad attitude," Normal's voice called out to her "But gotta admit your attitude at least keeps on the time clock" he paused "Where the fire trucks is Max?" he looked at his watch.  
  
Cindy turned at that remark, covering her hand over the payphone receiver she was talking on "Max  
went home. Wasn't feeling good"  
  
"For the love of Mike" Normal muttered under his breath "She'd better bring back that bike or be prepared to face charges of stealing"  
  
"Who would want one of these?" Sketchy kicked his stationary bike, observing all the dust that spewed out as a result.  
  
"I didn't ask for your input" Normal responded sharply. He tossed him a box "Derard St. Make me remember why I hired you" he looked over at Cree just standing idle "Move it, this isn't a line at the Sector stop"  
  
"I just got back," Cree complained   
  
"Sell it to someone else Cree. Since Max called in "sick" someone's gotta pick up the slack" he threw her a large box, which she caught.  
  
"He's always like this isn't he?" Cree asked this question to no one in particular  
  
"Unless aliens have colonized the planet and gave us a new boss," Sketchy answered her remark "One who doesn't have something shoved up wind" he paused "If he's ridin' ya, means he you still have a job"  
  
"Yea" Cree said in mock cheer "Makes me feel so loved"  
  
*****   
  
SECTOR SIX   
Back of Black Market Head Shop  
  
"What the hell happened?" a nameless black haired man touched the sharp edges of plastic in the radiator left there from the impact of Max's fist.  
  
"Some whacked out bitch" Jack told him angrily, looking at the busted up radiator "Must've been on a big load of shit. She could've made good money too"  
  
The man turned to him "Good?"  
  
Jack smiled "Oh yeah, makes all those you have look like dawgs, didn't see where she took off to-"  
  
"Forget her" the man interrupted "If we cross paths again, I'll have more bling bling. Right I want my number 17. If she spills to anyone bout this it could shut down my whole operation"  
  
"Why don't you just waste her with the cyanide like your buddy did to those Malaysian chicks?"  
  
"'Cause if I go off killing my girls, I won't have any services to provide shit" the man spat back in Jack's face. "No, I brought you here to find her. You're getting' more then a fair cut, so find her-" he pulled out a black Sig Sauer "before this finds you" he looked once again under the hood of the car "I can get this patched by tomorrow. But I want you back on the street tonight. And if you run into anymore whacked bitches-" he hit him on the stomach, also slapping at a revolver tucked in holster "one swipe, and I'll see if their worth anything"  
  
"Need transportation for that Ty" Jack informed him "Can't just walk around Seattle. Chicks dig a guy with wheels"  
  
Ty threw him a set of keys "Take choppy over there" he made reference to a 1999 Camero that had been fitted with stolen parts from about fifteen different cars that Ty had jacked. "The women man" he gave a leering smile "Can't go wrong with a Camero. Should go find yourself a new honey. Think it's time"  
  
Jack smiled too "Ready to move on from the last make-I mean date" he laughed, high-fiving Ty "Aiight bro I'm out. Take care of my wheels. Gotta go meet me some women man"  
  
*****   
  
Foggle Towers  
  
Max had slept for the better part of 45 minutes, a record with her. Logan really didn't want to wake her up. She looked so worn out from her seizure, but he knew that she wanted to get down to work to see Cree, and she'd kick his ass from here to Mexico if he let her sleep late.  
  
"Hey" he shook her shoulder "Time to go to class Maxie" he made a light joke out of the words his mother greeted him with in the morning when he was still in grade school  
  
"Zack just let me lie here for a little while longer." Max's voice was soft and far away sounding "It hurts"  
  
Logan's face fell when he heard that. /Smooth move shit, make her relive painful memories from Manticore/ "Max" he shook her a little harder, wanting to bring her out of her memory.  
  
Her eyes opened "How long was I out?" was her first remark  
  
"Little less then an hour" he told her watching her stretch her arms over her head "Guess you should get going back to work" he really wished she would stay longer, she still didn't look completely together, but he knew that she wouldn't let a seizure get her down.  
  
"Yeah" Max agreed around a stretch "Thanks for letting me crash" her eyes looked up into his. She climbed off the couch in one motion, slipping on her jacket that Logan had removed while she slept.  
  
"Not a problem" Logan told her "Should get those checked out," he gestured to her injured hand and sprained quads. "By a real doctor I mean"  
  
Max shrugged off his look "Manticore soldiers heal fast Logan. They'll be a distant memory in two days" she told him straight up "Gotta blaze" she turned to leave.  
  
"Max-" his words stopped her.   
  
She turned back around to face him  
  
"You know you're always welcome here," he paused briefly "anytime"  
  
She gave him a rare smile "Nice to know"   
  
There was a moment of comfortable silence between them  
  
"You should go-"  
  
"Better head out" Max agreed, speaking over top of him. They both shared a laugh "I'm out" Max stated  
  
"Yeah" Logan agreed "Bye"  
  
"C-ya" Max said in a goodbye, heading out.  
  
Logan watched her leave through the front door, not being able to take his eyes off her until the door closed  
  
*****   
  
"Hey" Max spotted Cree heading inside Jam Pony   
  
"Max" Cree stopped wheeling in her bike "Didn't you call in?" she looked at her slightly pale complexion "You should've stayed home, you don't look good"  
  
"I have this nero condition," she told Cree honestly, "Causes me to have seizures."  
  
"Sorry" Cree said, but didn't want Max to get the impression that she pitied her "I mean I didn't know-"  
  
"Have meds for it" Max broke in "Not greatest thing in the world, but I've lived with them all my life. Staying at home won't change a thing, just has to run its course" she paused "Sides if Normal found out, I'd be fired. He's scared shitless of workers comp"  
  
"I'll keep it DL Max" Cree caught was she was saying "Hey if Normal knew I ran from the slave whore house before I came here, I'd be out too"  
  
"Actually that's why I came here" Max said, "Logan found out there were some guys around Seattle looking for you-"  
  
"Was he blonde?" Cree broke in thinking back to Jack  
  
"He didn't find out" Max stated honestly "But there was this looser that followed me out of here a few hours ago-"  
  
"Jack" Cree interrupted "Jack Warren, son-of-a-bitch ex who sold me off. He was the one who came in here."  
  
"Did he see you?" Max asked  
  
"He catcalled," Cree told her "But the last time we saw each other I was fourteen, he didn't recognize me." she laughed dryly "Guess I 'grew up' like he always wanted"  
  
"Not about what he wants," Max said straight up "I'll watch your back. No bad ass is gonna mess with you on my watch."  
  
"Thanks for that" Cree told her "But this is my problem, don't wade in my shit"  
  
"We look out for each other here" Max told her "And since you came here, I'm offering the same service. How I do things"  
  
"Cree!" Normal broke in their conversation "Get moving, you don't get paid for standing still" he spotted Max beside her "And you, next time I catch you lying you're outta here."  
  
"Better get moving" Cree said, "If you feel up for it, Cindy invited me to Crash again. Bring Logan, he looks like he could use a day off"  
  
"I'll be there," Max told her "Don't know bout Logan, he's kind of a slave to his work-"  
  
"Use bribery then" Cree said with a smile  
  
"He's just a friend" Max interrupted   
  
"Max don't lie" Cree informed, "I've only just met you two, but can see what's going on. Don't play that friends game and wind up falling for some ass hole like I did. You've got a good thing with him"  
  
/Didn't even know I HAD a thing/ "I'll see what I can swing"  
  
*****   
  
LOS ANGELOS, CALFORNIA  
PARKER HIGH SCHOOL  
  
"Hey Jade!" someone called in the hall  
  
The fourteen and a half year old freshman turned, shifting her black backpack higher on her shoulder  
  
The boy, a junior with a badass attitude approached her "Heard from the whore yet?"  
  
"Shut up Rick!" Jade spat back "My sister was kidnapped. She's not a whore!" there was anger in her voice, and an underlying tone of sadness. /Is she still even alive? What if-no, I would've felt something/  
  
Rick wouldn't let it go "I heard Jack fucked her brains out cause she told him to and she's a dancer by day, and an head giving street slut at night-" he was cut off when Jade turned on him and slammed him into the nearest locker  
  
"Don't you talk EVER talk way about Cree you ass hole!" she punched him across the face.  
  
"Jade Amston stop!" Ms. Mirton the Vice Principal saw what she did. She headed over to the two kids "Now what is going on here?"   
  
"Nothing," Jade lied  
  
"Doesn't look like it young lady" Mirton answered "If the two of you aren't in my office in five minutes I'll expel you both from school"  
  
Once inside the Vice Principals office, Jade let out her anger "He was talking about Cree ma'am," Jade told her, pacing around her desk  
  
"Didn't say anything that wasn't true-" Rick interrupted  
  
"Enough!" Mirton interrupted, she looked at Jade "Now I know you've had a hard time these last few years Jade. We all miss Cree, and I know it's hard, but acting out isn't the answer. It won't bring her back" her voice had gotten softer on that last part.  
  
"With all do respect ma'am" Jade told her "You don't get it. How could you understand what it's like for some shit to take your sister away somewhere and torture her-"  
  
"You don't know that Jade-"  
  
"I DO!" Jade screamed  
  
Mirton looked over at Rick "You get out, you're serving two weeks detention starting today for this"  
  
After Rick left in an angry rage Mirton addressed Jade again "I don't know where Cree is Jade, and I can't say whether or not she's safe, but you have to believe that she's okay"  
  
"How can I?" Jade whipped her head up from it's lowered position, brown eyes on fire with passion "She's not okay, or else she would be here. It's been THREE years since I last saw her, and it still hurts like the first day, for all of us" she stood up from the chair, facing the VP behind her desk   
  
"Whatever punishment I'm getting I'll do, but I'm not apologizing to Rick after what he said, because Cree's still my sister" she slammed the door to the office, not hard, but enough to make a fairly loud noise.   
  
Once outside the door, Jade ducked under the second floor stairs. Her hands found an old picture of her and Cree taken three weeks before Cree disappeared. /Why did he do this?/ She touched the picture "She has to be alive" Her eyes welled up and she cried silently.  
  
*****   
  
I will have a time where Cree and Jade get to meet up again, just wanted to introduce her. I know this was a late update, but my "Choices" chapter took up a lot of time, plus I had to do stuff in classes. But after I get through with finals this week I'll be free from college for three months! whoo-hoo! I will also go deeper with my M/L thing. This is my world so I get to ignore Cameron, so there!  
  
R/R please, and I'll keep it up. 


	13. Happy Freakin' Birthday

Chapter 13 "Happy Freakin' Birthday"  
  
A/N: these take a while to put up I know, but I gotta get some good ideas in my head before I put something on a 'hard copy' This part is one of the reasons I give this story an R rating. Be advised it's graphic.  
  
*****   
  
CRASH  
  
"It's been real" Cree stood up from the table that she occupied with Max and Logan, whom Max had managed to drag away from his work for one night.  
  
"You too girl" Max returned, knocking fists with the woman standing over her.  
  
"Glad you were able to pull yourself away from the 'office' for a while" Cree addressed Logan beside Max.  
  
"Yeah" Logan shrugged "Figured I owed you two one night of no work" he adjusted the glasses on his face.  
  
Cree slapped his shoulder "Glad too. Can't just waste time with work" she looked at Max, "with so many other nice things around here" she smiled "I'm out, gotta catch some sleep before work. Late"  
  
"Aiight" Max stated in a good-bye, watching her new friend leave.   
  
"She still has barriers" Logan spoke up after Cree left   
  
Max played with the edge of her beer mug "can't expect her to be all open after the shit that's happened to her"  
  
"I agree" Logan concurred "Anyway, even with all the barriers she's a good person, hard, but not like I don't know anyone like that"  
  
This made Max smile "anyone I know?"  
  
Logan returned the gesture "Maybe"  
  
*****   
  
OUTSIDE CRASH  
  
Cree pulled out the keys to the stolen car she had been driving around since she got here. She slid the key in the lock of the driver's side, feeling something brush her skin above the dip in her black halter top, near the small Chinese dragon tattooed on her shoulder. She turned, looking down at her bare skin, finding a hair that had fallen out of the ponytail clip she used to pull back her long black hair.   
  
She plucked at the hair, throwing it down onto the street, before whipping around to try the key again. A noise, a small sound of something crackling made her turn back around. Seeing nothing she chalked it up to paranoia and went back to try and again open the door to the car.  
  
Before she could say anything however something in the night threw her down onto the filthy street. She landed hard on her back, most of the wind being knocked out of her.  
  
The glint of a knife was at her throat, and a figure with rancid breath was pressed up against her.  
  
"How much you worth baby?" the man suddenly laughed at this "forget it. Not like I'd pay you anyway-" he was cut off when Cree head butted him, a move she remembered from her Jit-Su days, the martial art that she had gotten black belt status from.   
  
This caught her attacker off guard, but not enough. "You bitch!" he was back on her like an animal, slicing at her clothes with the knife. "Gonna do you so hard that NO man would want you" he cut a slit in her velvet pants, exposing her underwear. He screwed the knife at her top, and just yanked the halter down off her breasts, tearing off her black strapless bra at the same time. "You got nice candy bitch you know that?" he sucked her  
  
Cree grabbed his jaw in her hand, making him bite down on his tounge. The man spat the blood resulting from the cut on his tounge at her face. "Whore!" he slapped her across the face, raising up the blade in the Swiss army knife again. "How about I give you a lil Jack the Ripper style surgery-"  
  
The knife fell out of his hand, after Cree found his balls with her shoe. He gasped at this, allowing her enough time to crawl out from under him, reaching for the knife he dropped.  
  
"No way in hell slut!" Cree's attacker, stood up, albeit sluggishly and went to tackle her again.  
  
"Your momma ever tell you not to mess with knives?" Max threw him off course by slamming him into the brick wall of the bar.  
  
The man leered hatefully at her "Gonna get it for that you bitch-" he met the wall again  
  
"Little sick of being called a bitch, shit" Max returned, easily sending him back into the wall without breaking a sweat She leaned next to his face "I ever catch you here again trying to mess with my girl, or ANY other girl like that, gonna feed your limp biscuit to the rats out here" she banged his head against the wall.  
  
"Cree" while Max was taking care of the man, Logan knelt next to the young woman. He was about to ask her if she was okay, but he could tell that by simply looking at her torn clothes and blood from where her attacker had gone deeper with the knife then just cotton.  
  
Cree almost hit him when he touched her, thinking for a moment that she was back in the brothel. But at the last minute she realized that this was Logan, Max's boyfriend, and that he would never hurt her. "Thought this kinda thing was over for me" she bit her lip, tasting the blood that the man spat at her in her mouth.  
  
Logan removed his leather jacket, placing it over her body to give her back some dignity. She had no coat and it was a cold night.   
  
Max had left the scum where she threw him, and stepped over to where Logan was kneeling next to Cree. "Can you stand on your own?" she asked to the other woman, becoming pissed as hell at the blood on her friend's face.  
  
Cree answered her question by doing it "Can't even have a normal night anymore" her breath hitched. She paused when she felt something wet near her bottom "Shit" she bit her lip again, looking towards Max, because this was something another woman could understand "Max-"  
  
Max understood what she meant, "Logan let's take her back to my place so she can clean up. Her crib complex is a dump" she spoke this before Cree could finish so she would have some dignity preserved tonight. "That okay girl?"  
  
"Yeah" Cree's voice was barely a whisper  
  
Without a word Logan picked up the young woman. Cree didn't come right out and say it, but he knew that it was hurting her to stand up.  
  
"What about the car?" Max spoke up "If it's left someone will run the tags"  
  
"I'll call someone to bring it over to my place" Logan suggested  
  
*****   
  
SECTOR TEN  
MAX AND CINDY'S APARTMENT  
  
"Here boo" Cindy stepped into the bathroom where Max and Cree were, some clothes in her hand. "Things are old, but they're comfortable" in her hand were a pair of black sweat pants and a gray tank top of Max's  
  
"Thanks" Cree spoke out "Set'em over there" she continued to run water over herself, warm to flush out the blood  
  
Max bent low, looking at the abrasions "They're not too bad" She had been taught how to care for herself back at Manticore in case, and this was the sick part, she had to have sex undercover. If she tore she had to make sure to find it and seal it off with a heated blade so her blood couldn't be traced. "They were dirty as hell, and all that knocking around didn't help  
  
Cree was hesitant at first to let someone touch her, but back there it had been men who did the touching, so she felt safer with a woman.  
  
"Not gonna lie" Max told her honestly, holding a small heated switchblade she warmed up with a lighter. Cree couldn't go to a hospital or she would most likely be ratted out, and this would keep bleeding if it wasn't sealed somehow. "This is gonna sting like hell, so if you feel like you gotta scream just do it." she moved the blade inside, going slowly, to make sure she got it right, and didn't hurt her any more than necessary.  
  
"Shit!" Cree started to curse. Her eyes watered "Mother fuckin', son-of-a-bitch!" she ran through her curse word vocabulary for the agonizing three minutes.  
  
"I'm done" Max finally announced "She removed the knife, throwing it in the bowl of bleach she had set on the toilet. "You alive?" she touched Cree's long black hair, tucking some behind her ear.  
  
Cree actually managed a smile at this "Great present huh?"  
  
Max was confused at her cryptic remark "What do you mean?" she put on some ointment to ward off infection.  
  
"My eighteenth birthday" Cree answered her question "Happened officially and hour ago"  
  
Max chucked the gloves in the trash "Your gonna be sore girl, but I think you know that. We'll go out for a while, let you get changed" she didn't say anything about it being her birthday, because there was nothing there that would be appropriate.  
  
"Be right outside suga" Cindy pointed out "If you need help, just give a holla kay?"  
  
"Appreciate this guys" Cree tried to fall into her regular street banter "Happy birthday to me I guess"  
  
*****   
  
"It's her birthday!" was the first thing Max said coming into her living room "This is just sick" her voice was passionate.  
  
"I know boo" Cindy agreed "Shit's messed up."  
  
"The people who did this to her are sick too" Logan agreed "The worst part is they don't even care-" he fell silent when Cree came out of the bathroom.  
  
"Guys I know your talkin' bout me" she walked slowly into the room "Won't say anything I haven't already heard" she gave a humorless laugh "Cree you got screwed, got the short end of the stick, you're a messed up ex-whore-" her words got angry at the end, and she threw two glasses against the wall "Your son-of-a-bitch ex stole three years of your life!" she was gasping from the outburst "And the guy at the bar still thinks of you as a slut" her words trailed off and she started to cry.  
  
Cindy went over to her and hugged Cree in the middle of the floor "I want it back Cindy" Cree cried as Cindy hugged her.  
  
"I know ya do suga" Cindy told her "be aiight"  
  
A few tears dropped from Cree's eyes "Miss my mom and my sister. Jade probably thinks I'm dead. My little baby sister, I just want her back-"  
  
Logan looked behind him when he heard a door shut.   
  
Max leaned against her bedroom door. /I'm being selfish. So damn 'all 'bout me'/ she jumped from the door when Logan came through it.  
  
"You okay?" he asked her, standing a few feet away from her.  
  
"I'm good" her words were angry "There's a woman who was tortured and abused for three years crying in my living room, but all I can think about is me"  
  
Logan was confused at her words "What do you mean?"  
  
"Eva" Max spoke up suddenly "Cree's in there re-living shit hell and all I came up with in my mind is that Eva got blown away twelve years today-"  
  
"It's natural to feel upset" Logan objected, "You watched her be gunned down right in front of you"  
  
"But at least-"  
  
"At least what?" Logan cut her off "She didn't get tortured sexually like Cree?" he stepped closer to her "She still had her life taken away from her by a rat bastard. It's no different."  
  
"But it's still wrong to think about only myself" Max objected  
  
Logan reached out and touched her face "You loved Eva Max, there's nothing wrong with feeling this way on the day she was killed"  
  
Max made a low noise in the back of her throat, before hugging him without a word  
  
Logan returned the gesture "It's okay to miss her" he told her   
  
Max blinked back tears, staying in the embrace for a few seconds. "I'm going out there again, wallowing in my own pity's not gonna help here" she pulled away from him and headed for the door.  
  
"Max-" Logan called out to her before she left  
  
"I'm good," she repeated heading out.  
  
*****   
  
Sorry this took so long to getup. I am working on 'Choices 13' and I got deep into that so I didn't get to this for a while. I typed this in one afternoon so let me know whatcha think. I'm still keeping up this story, it just takes a while when you have a series to write, and keep getting ideas for OTHER fics like me.  
  
Hope that wasn't too graphic for anyone. Just wanted to show Cree finally releasing some of that pent up rage from being a prisoner for three years. R/R please. 


	14. Where is the God's Honest End?

Chapter 14  
  
"Where is the God's Honest End?"  
  
Rating: R for imagery  
  
*****  
  
"There are some men who see women as things, things to be used an abused, because we are less then them, we are less then human"   
  
~"Annie Camdon" "7th Heaven"  
*****   
  
SECTOR TEN  
MAX AND CINDY'S APARTMENT  
  
Cree had cried herself out from her outburst. She now sat on the couch, clutching a pillow to her chest, and staring blankly off into space.  
  
Max and Logan had re-joined Cree and Cindy in the living room. Both didn't say a word at what had transpired in Max's bedroom, focusing all their attention on the broken woman in front of them.  
  
"Might help to talk bout it boo" Cindy broke the silence  
  
Cree laughed dryly "It only makes me remember.."she drifted off, biting her bottom lip.  
  
Her action reminded Logan of Max during moments when her hard shell could not contain her emotions any longer and she would bite savagely on her lip, trying to keep it all in and not loose her bad ass exterior.  
  
"Least you'll have something out" Logan told her "It always hurts to remember, but that's how people heal"  
  
"Wish I had your ideals Logan" Cree confessed "Instead of just a head full of demons"  
  
"Put some of them to rest girl" Max said, looking at her from her seat on her coffee table "Talk to us, no one else will hear and no one's gonna condemn you"  
  
Cree gave a long shaky sigh, silently agreeing with Max "I never had relations before-" she stumbled over this part. "I was 'pure' as my mother would put it." she laughed shakily "If she could see me now" she paused before continuing "I had this boyfriend, Jack" she looked at Max "same guy who tried to attack you. He was such a bad ass to me, and I liked that, felt so daring to cross the moral line and be with someone like that. Jack always told me what any fourteen-year-old wants to hear, that I was a hot number, and I was smart." she broke off. "I was suppose to go to this bar with Jade, that's my sister. It wasn't an alcohol dig, just a place to sing. Jack called me at the last minute, told me he wanted to see me. I agreed to meet the shit, and told Jade I'd see her there." she bit her lip again. "When I got there Jack was waiting, with flowers, and a gun that I didn't see until he shoved it in my face."  
  
"Son-of-a-bitch" Cindy spoke aloud  
  
This proclamation gave Cree the courage to continue, "He gave me the flowers first, and after I took them a pistol was in my face. I'll never forget his words to me" she paused before reciting what Jack said that night "Sorry I missed your birthday, but you're gonna make sure lots of men don't miss theirs" I didn't know what he meant. I was grabbed at by a bunch of guys, one of them knocked me out with some shit. When I woke up I was in this warehouse, along with all these other girls.  
  
"I still didn't know what was going on, I was so naïve. Then this big burly man came over and slapped me, told me I was his 'bitch' and had some of the other girls take me in back. They took away all my clothes and gave me this skimpy skintight tube dress. They did my hair and makeup, I didn't even recognize myself when the finished. Then they gave me this plastic card with a string attached to it. Said that was my number, I was 34. Everyday we stood in this glass walled enclosure, as men picked among us. My first customer raped me right in front of everyone, it was a thing my pimp had. Wanted to witness my virginity being taken away so he could jack down my price, virgin's were worth more.  
  
"This one girl had gotten pregnant by a customer whose condom broke. She didn't even know it until she started to show." Cree's voice became hard "My pimp had three guys take her on to get rid of the baby. He even kicked her in the stomach for ten minutes. She bled out for three days, and he told customers that she had herpes. When she finally stopped, he put her back in the line up." she worked her bottom lip again. "About a year after I was there, I noticed my period had stopped for almost three months, because I tried to use it as an excuse. My pimp beat me for lying, and left me in chains on the bed for a day. I knew I had gotten pregnant from someone, and I was scared of what would happen to me like the other girl. But it wasn't a problem anymore after a group of bikers came in, and we each had twelve men in three hours. I bled out all over this guy-I was glad in a way, what the hell would I do with a baby in a place like that? He beat me for messing up his damn leather jacket lying on the bed."  
  
The room was eerily quiet as Cree told her horrible past to her newfound friends "The day I escaped, my pimp was talking with this customer, and I saw the door open through the saloon. So I ran like hell, I stole the shit's car, and drove. Went on for hours, and when night hit I found a Sector stop into Seattle, and that's the part of the story you know."  
  
Max didn't know what to say to that, this girl had just pulled out her entire shitty past and laid it bare in front of them. Nothing would comfort her, or make her feel better. So Max did the only thing she could think of, she revealed some of her own past.  
  
"When I was eight I was staying at this military school. Pulse hadn't happened yet, but the place was run more like a prison. My brother Zack and I were late for a combat class once, so the CO strapped me down and made him watch while they broke my arms-" she spoke in a steady voice for what she was describing and she hated Manticore for it, for making her hard like this.  
  
/"Observe everything 599" the op ordered of Zack "You need to know how to set these when they break in combat" he tightened the clamp on Max's arm, and Zack could hear the crack of bone as it snapped in half, restraining himself from flinching at the pain on her face. The ops set the brakes and left her alone for the rest of the night. Zack snuck out of the barracks in the night, and stayed with her, trying to keep her mind of pain with the stories that Ben had all told them.  
  
"Will they just kill me one day Zack?" Max looked at her brother with pained eyes "When I mess up one too many times?"  
  
"We are too important Maxie" Zack reassured "The Cornel won't let us die." he also added "I won't let you die either"/  
  
"After I healed the operators told me I had better learn the lesson from this if I didn't want it to be repeated" she didn't know it but she started to tremble ever so slightly from the emotion.  
  
Logan sat up on the couch and squeezed her shoulder without a word, running it down the length of her arm until he found her hand.  
  
Cree looked at Max "I'm sorry Max" her pain was great, but she had found someone who really knew what torture could be like.  
  
"So am I" Max returned  
  
*****   
  
I saw this "World Vision" pledge thing on TV, and they told the story of this girl forced to work in a brothel, and how that first day this man raped her twice in the course of 24 hours. I had to write the next chapter after I saw that.   
  
I will keep up hope that Dark Angel will find a home again from someone who doesn't drop the ball like FOX, or that FOX picks up the damn ball it let slip through their fingers. But in the mean time, I'll keep up all my stories, and continue to write more. Not going down that easily.  
  
I am working to build a sexual slavery web site that will contain information on this malicious practice, including links to the sites I used to reference Cree's life in the brothel. I will post the URL in author notes when I complete this series. R/R please. 


	15. Remember Me?

Chapter 14-"Remember Me?"  
  
Here's a long chapter for all of you since the last one was short, enjoy.  
  
Rating: PG   
  
A/N: this chapter's not as intense as the last one, hence the "lighter" rating. It features more of Jade, and a bit more M/L action (whoo! yeah! sorry)   
  
A/N #2: Don't forget to sign petitions to the DA Nation war, please. If we can't get a third season out of FOX, we can maybe get a TV movie or something like that that for closure.  
  
*****   
  
LOS ANGELOS, CALIFORNIA   
34 RED IBIS LANE  
  
Jade used the back door that lead into the kitchen. She found no one inside the recently remolded space. The clock on the wall ticked incessantly /Like a woodpecker on steroids/ Cree often used this analogy when talking about the clock. Both girls had more then once threatened to throw the loud timepiece into the wood chipper. It had been a gift from grandmother, the first thing she had bought in America after immigrating from Beijing, and their mother gushed over it's sentimental value having more of a say over the fact that it was annoying.  
  
There was a pack of opened rice cakes on the island in the middle of the tiled kitchen. A large pot steamed on the first stove eye, and the smell coming from inside was that of boiling ox meat and seasoning.  
  
"I didn't hear you come in" Ming Amston, Jade's mother entered the kitchen, an apron covering her black slacks and purple turtleneck. She finished coiling her long jet-black hair into a bun on her head and secured it with a metal pin. "Making your favorite" she lifted the lid off the pot and skimmed the fat off the surface of the soup with a long wooden spoon.  
  
"What's the occasion?" Jade asked, slightly confused. Her mother's job as police officer with the LA 45th precinct had her busy most of the time. Usually dinner was pizza or "American Chinese" takeout.  
  
"Just thought it would be nice." Ming confessed, dipping a ladle inside the pot and pulling out the tailbones that had been inside "We haven't eaten as a family in a while, with dad having to finish up that new housing development" she paused, like she wanted to say something, but was at a loss for words. "I'd thought we could light a candle for Cree-" her words chocked on her daughter's name. When she had been taken Ming talked her supervising officer to let her be in on her case. The lieutenant reluctantly let her and her then partner Officer Cliff Rodgers pursue some leads. One to the residence of a one Jack Warren, the boyfriend of Cree, one of the biggest ties they had. But Jack wasn't at the apartment he shared with his parents, who confessed that their son would pick up and leave for weeks at a time. Ming's anger with this lead to her attacking the father of Jack, giving him a black eye and her a week's suspension and removal off Cree's case. But Ming was like a shadow to the officers  
handling the case, checking every new lead and bit of information they got.  
  
But Jack was good at covering his tracks, weeks and months and years rolled by and Cree was never found. Ming blamed herself for not seeing the situation her daughter had gotten involved in. She had seen tons of girls being tricked into prostitution or being date raped in her ten years with the 45. But she couldn't make that connection with Jack, not completely. Both her and her husband Peter thought that Jack was not the right guy for Cree, but they only thought of him as too hormonal and wild for a fourteen-year-old girl, not a threat to her life. Cree thought she was in love, and Ming and Peter's talks did nothing to change that.  
  
"Mom" Jade's voice snapped her out of her thoughts "You okay?"  
  
"Fine" Ming reassured "Better get this on the table before dad comes home" her eyes lifted to the calendar that was tacked to the kitchen wall. Another birthday had rolled bye, another year she had "survived" life without her oldest daughter. But all the sympathies and prayers and cards did nothing at the end of the day when Ming had to pass by Cree's empty room, remaining just as she had left it for before she ran out to meet Jack before going to the Karaoke bar.  
  
/"I don't know Cree" Ming crossed her arms over her chest.  
  
"C'mon mom" Cree argued in all her fourteen-year-old glory "I'll just be a minute"  
  
"What about your little sister?" Ming informed, "She's been all excited to hear you sing for weeks"  
  
"I'll still be there," Cree told her, pulling on the leather jacket that had been a Christmas present last year "Jack only wants to see me for a second and then I'll go do my act" she smiled for dramatic flair.  
  
"Alright" Ming finally gave in, stepping closer to her daughter "Just don't let me find out that you were late or I'll book you" she pulled Cree's arms behind her back in a light representation to what she did to the criminals she arrested, dropping her onto the bed, face down.  
  
Cree matched her mother's moves, flipping onto her back and reclaiming her arms.  
  
Ming laughed "Guess Jit-Su's paying off"/  
  
/I should've told her not to go. I should've given her a ride. God alone at night with Jack, what the hell was I thinking?/  
  
She finished up with the soup, dishing it out and placing the bowls on the oak dining table. Jade grabbed a candle from the assortment lined up on the black marble recessed counter top that divided the kitchen from the living room. She presented it to her mom who lit it with match.  
  
"God keep her safe and me from loosing my mind" she whispered this. "Happy birthday baby" Ming rested the candle in the center of the table.  
  
*****   
  
SEATTLE   
SECTOR TEN  
THE NEXT MORNING  
  
Cree wiped the remaining moisture from her eyes that had come as a result of her sharing her hell last night. She had even cried in her sleep.  
  
"Here suga" Cindy came out of the kitchen, presenting her with a cup of coffee.  
  
"Thanks" Cree picked up the steamy mug, taking a sip "Wow, who stole stuff?"  
  
Cindy smiled at that "Present from Logan. Beats the hell out of the stuff Max and I scrounge up on the street"  
  
"Thought java this good was illegal since that blockade with Cuba" Cree inhaled the aroma of the Columbian coffee.  
  
"Boy gets it off the Black Market" Cindy told her "Wouldn't believe how much it costs, but not like he's lacking in   
bling bling"   
  
"A nice rich white guy who's fine as hell" Cree began, taking another sip of her illegal coffee "Who'd a thought?" she sipped again "Max better recognize the good thing she's has"  
  
"Straight up" Cindy agreed, "My girl's a fine suga with brains and moves, but she needs to wake up and smell the java on her and Logan"  
  
"Her and Logan what?" Max came out of the bathroom in her white terry towel robe, heading straight for the coffee pot.  
  
"Usual boo" Cindy told her friend as she poured some coffee "How you need to just drop the bad ass stuff and admit you have something for the boy"  
  
"Logan and I aren't like that" Max informed, taking a seat at the table  
  
Cindy didn't believe any word of that remark "And Original Cindy's gonna go put a smile on Sketchy's face tonight." she paused "What bout last night Ms. We Ain't Like that?" Cindy had stayed up till almost three in the morning with Cree. Logan had still been there, but soon announced that he needed to get back home. But before he left he had slipped into Max's room, who had left the group earlier to get the one-hour of sleep she usually got on a few nights. He covered her with a blanket, and she said something that made him laugh. Then the two had shared a hug, but the part that Cindy knew she could use against Max and her platonic campaign was when Logan gave her girl more then just a casual kiss on her mouth. The kiss itself lasted for only about five seconds, but Cindy had seen the way she looked at him after it was over, like she wanted more.  
  
Max knew she had been caught, and she thought back to that moment. /Who knew five seconds of lip locking could be such a turn on for me?/ She could still smell his clean and slightly musky cologne, and feel the heat that had come off his skin when he touched her face. The kiss was nothing like what they had shared in the car with Sibelius playing; it was far less intense and had nowhere near the level of want and desperation. But it still felt passionate to her.  
  
Thankfully the phone rang before Max had to explain her silence to her friends. She picked up the unit  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Hey" Logan's voice was soft on the other end  
  
"Hey yourself" she replied  
  
"How's Cree?" was his first question  
  
"She's good." Max covered her hand over the receiver "Logan wants 411"  
  
"I'm mostly good" Cree talked loud enough for the man on the other line to pick up.  
  
"See?" Max pointed out to him "Told you"  
  
"Never doubted that Max" Logan argued, "Things good with you?"  
  
"I'm me," Max told him "I'm always good"  
  
"That's why I asked," Logan continued   
  
"I'm touched" she joked "Was there something specific you wanted, or is this just a house call?"  
  
"Just wanted to tell you that I got Cree's car towed to my house after I got back"  
  
"Must've called in some favors" Max analyzed "Garages are wary bout sending anyone on late night runs now a days"   
  
"I deal good business Max" Logan informed, "Offered the guy a good amount of cash to get out of bed and haul it over"  
  
"Money talks" Max grabbed her coffee from the table and sat on the couch.  
  
"Defiantly" Logan agreed. "I was thinking that you could drop Cree off here before work so she can pick up her wheels"  
  
"Sounds like a plan" Max responded. "I'll get back, and if it's down with her, just listen for the knock"  
  
"Since when do you knock?" Logan asked. There was a few seconds of silence on his end. Logan wanted to bring up the kiss he had given her, but didn't really know how to go about it. The last time she had excused it as being "real emotional"   
  
"Earth to Logan Cale" Max's voice snapped him out of his trance  
  
"Sorry" he apologized "Guess I'll see you two over here soon"  
  
"Count on it" Max agreed hanging up before anything else was exchanged.  
  
*****   
  
45TH PRECINCT   
THRID AND RODGERS   
LOS ANGELOS, CALIFORNIA  
DESK OF LT. RICHARD COLLINS  
8:01 AM  
  
Lt. Collins drank his coffee and flipped through the case file on his desk. Another car jacking had occurred. This one on a 2005 Pontiac Sunfire. Collins did his best to reassure the owner that the vehicle would be returned, but most often these jacked wheels were sold off to chop shops for parts before any law enforcement could track them down. The man would be better off getting another car.  
  
He looked up from the file when a door opened and two of his officers entered. "Amston" Lt. Collins stood up addressing the female officer of the man and woman pair. "A moment please"  
  
"What is it Sir?" Ming questioned her superior officer, a little wary for any more confrontation about the assault incident.   
  
"Just wanted to check how you're doing" Collins answered, speaking in a non-threatening tone to reassure her that he wasn't about to haul her out onto the carpet.  
  
"I'm fine Sir" Ming assured "Getting through things one day at a time"  
  
"Maybe you should take some time for yourself Ming" Collins suggested "Get away with Peter and your daughter-"  
  
"With all due respect Sir" Ming interrupted "My job is one of the only things that has kept me sane these last three years. I don't want to be out in Maui when they finally bring Warren in, I want to be here and find out what happened to Cree."  
  
"It may not be what you want to hear" Collins brought up the point that many officers had suggested. That after three years of no luck Warren probably killed the young girl and dumped her somewhere.  
  
"I know the statistics Lieutenant" Ming told him "But what ever happened to her, she is still my daughter, and I want Warren brought to justice one way or the other" her radio came one, advising her of a car chase in progress. "Someone needs to take this Sir-"  
  
"Go" Collins waved her away from his desk "You and Dalton follow up." he referenced her new partner since Officer Rodgers had gotten a promotion to the Violent Crimes Unit. "Just keep your head on straight."  
  
"Yes Sir" Ming responded  
  
"C'mon Amston" Eric Dalton, Ming's partner waved at her from across the room "Put the pedal to the metal girl"  
  
Collins watched the pair leave the station, reaching for another file under the car jack one, it was a pretty hopeless case that they'd still find the Sunfire in one piece. He lifted the next file out from under the first, which happened to be Jack Warren's file. The boy was like Houdini, he left no trace. Every possible lead they had on him had been checked out.  
  
/Gotta be something/ Collins read the file over again for about the millionth time  
  
WARREN, JACK RUSSEL   
AGE OF DEFENDANT: 16 YEARS  
  
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: CAUCASIAN MALE, 5'8, GREEN EYES, CHESNUT BLONDE HAIR, MUSCULAR UPPER BODY  
IDENTIFYING MARKS: BLACK COBRA TATOO ON LEFT CALF  
  
RESIDENCY: 3532 MANCHESTER ROAD  
LOS ANGELOS, CA 98686  
  
DRIVERS LICENSE # D54334326443  
  
VEHICAL: MAROON '98 GREMLIN  
DMV TAGS# J43769 REGISTERED AT LA DMV  
  
ARRESTED FOR: POSSESSION OF 1 KILO OF MARAJUANA AND 250 CASH MONEY FOR DISTRUBUTION SALES  
DATE OF ARREST: MAY 2, 2017 21:23  
OFFICER(S) INVOLVED: SGT. RICO MARTINEZ, OFFICER JESSICA CLEVLAND, OFFICER JADAN MICHAELS  
  
CHARGED WITH: POSSESSION, AND POSSESION WITH INTENT  
SERVED: 18 DAYS SUMNER CNTY JUVINELLE HALL. BAIL POSTED: 150 DOLLARS ON MAY 19, 2017 12:36.   
RELEASED INTO RECONOCINCE OF: MARY AND EARL WARREN (PARENTS)  
  
PREVIOUS ARRESTS: DUI, UNDER AGE PURCHASE OF ALCOHOL (APRIL 3, 28, 2018) EXPLOTING PROSTUTION SOLICITATION (APRIL 28, 2018)   
  
-SUSPICION OF INVOLVMENT IN KIDNAPPING AND DISSAPEARANCE OF CREE ILANDA AMSTON AGE 14 ON MARCH 13, 2017*  
  
*NO CHARGES HAVE BEEN MADE AS OF MAY 28, 2020. WARREN FLED HIS HOME JUNE 6, 2017. NO CONTACT MADE WITH PARENTS.  
  
Collins didn't find anything different about Warren's file then the last times he had read it over. /Damn kid is messing up my record. Need to find this slime before he messes up another girl/  
  
The car jack file fell on the floor. Collins retrieved it, but before he put it away something caught his eye  
  
VEHICAL STOLEN: 99 RED PONTIAC SUNFIRE LICENSE # J43769   
  
Collins immediately searched the file for the address of the man who reported the car stolen. He soon found it.  
  
"Michaels" he handed the male officer the piece of paper "Want you to check this out. Think I just found a lead on Amston's daughter."  
  
*****   
  
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON   
JAM PONY  
3:45 PM  
  
"Bip Ladies" Normal pounded on his desk, talking to Cindy and Max "Work is a place where you get stuff done"  
  
"Really?" Max joked with him "Thanks for clearing that up"  
  
"Not funny smart mouth" Normal informed her, sliding a stack of boxes across the counter to her "These need homes and you all are the find-a-home agency."  
  
"Boy you need to join the find a life agency," Cindy told him straight out.  
  
"And you'll be finding another job if you keep this up." he snapped back "Go bip. bip" he waved at the boxes. "Goes for the rest of you." he advised his employees.  
  
"Our girl get her wheels back okay?" Cindy asked grabbing one of the boxes Normal set out and shoving it in her pack.  
  
"Yep" Max answered, "Things went smooth"  
  
"Talk to your squeeze bout last night?" Cindy went in another direction  
  
"Nothing to talk about" Max argued  
  
"Boo you laid one on the man, and you're keepin' it DL?" Cindy didn't believe this "And don't tell me it just happened, cause after a year, things are beyond 'just happein' for you two, it's now about want"   
  
"Not like I've never kissed him before" Max reminded, remembering the car ride to Logan's uncle's cabin. "Just don't know where's it's goin'"  
  
"Can be on the up-and-up if you let it" Cindy informed, "You got an itch suga, go scratch, ain't no shame in it."  
  
"Too much going on for that" Max argued, looking to Cree who was talking to Sketchy and Herbal.  
  
"Always too much going on boo" Cindy let hr know "Can't use that excuse, face it, world's never gonna be ideal."  
  
"So you're from LA?" Sketchy leaned against the support beam talking to Cree.  
  
"I moved a year ago Sketch" Cree lied "City's dirtier then here"  
  
"About de same wid de badness I believe" Herbal moralized  
  
"Pretty much" Cree agreed, "Didn't want to stay after my shit boyfriend messed with me" /and sold me into slavery. If I get my hands on him I'm gonna castrate the ass/   
  
"De Most High be with you my sistah" Herbal stated "Protect you from dah asses of de world"  
  
"Brother speaks the truth" Sketchy agreed "Shouldn't stand for any crap"  
  
Cree was surprised to here Sketchy speaking like that "Not going to anymore" she looked outside, and saw a red Camero pulling into a building across the street. Cree sucked in her breath seeing Jack exit the car, and he wasn't alone, there was a young girl with him, who actually looked like she was enjoying his company.  
  
"Son-of-a-bitch" Cree whispered, running out of the building.  
  
"Hey!" Normal shouted after her, but she ignored him.  
  
"She rides smooth huh?" Jack turned to the blonde fifteen-year-old he had met at a local diner.  
  
"Nice" she responded. "Hot color too"  
  
Jack smiled "Hot color for a hot girl"  
  
The girl blushed. "So where did you say your place was?"  
  
"Up a little ways" Jack pointed down the road "We can walk from here"  
  
Cree hurried down the sidewalk, her stride breaking into a run. /Get outta there girl, he's frontin'/ "Hey!" she got Jack's attention before he and the girl were too far down the sidewalk.  
  
"Hey momma" Jack still didn't recognize her, which was to Cree's advantage.  
  
"Hey daddy" Cree played into his words "Where ya headed?"  
  
"My place" Jack informed, "Want to come?"  
  
"Could have room for one more" Cree went for seductive /Play it cool, not getting sucked into that this time ass. I'm not fourteen anymore/  
  
Jack's smile grew larger "What'd you have in mind?" he looked her up and down.  
  
Cree dropped the charade then and there "not the same thing you do" she kicked him in a Jit-Su move, not being the thin, but slightly lankly young teen he remembered. Before Jack could get back up up, she put her knee on his chest "Son-of-a-bitch" she kicked him with her free foot "Don't think you're gonna get away with dropping this girl with some pals of yours"  
  
"Who the hell are you bitch?" Jack spat  
  
"Your worse nightmare shit" Cree growled, three years of anger in her voice.  
  
"Go" Cree barked to the girl "You don't want what he has to offer"  
  
"You bitch!" Jack spat at Cree again, reaching for his gun, but before he could Cree pulled out a switchblade from her boot, one that she had taken to carrying around since the escape, just in case. She placed it at his neck. "You want to find out how many veins the human neck contains keep talkin'"  
  
"Get up slime" Max had joined Cree after she saw what was going down, pulling out the gun "We're not even for that bitch incident." she emptied the clip, turning to the girl Jack was with "You okay girl?"  
  
The woman nodded   
  
"Good" Max stated "Word of advise, don't waste your time with him" she held up the gun "Guarantee you don't think the same way"  
  
Cree released Jack, who climbed back up and tried to leave  
  
"Think you're going?" Max spat "We're not done"  
  
"Like I'd listen to your skanky ass" Jack informed, walking away, but before he could get very far Cree threw her switch blade in a maneuver that pinned a part of his jacket to the aged brick wall of the building.  
  
"It's not an option" Max informed  
  
Cree stepped hatefully over to Jack, wanting to look the loser in the eye who caused her so much pain. "You obviously don't remember me, but there's something I've been wanting to say" she grabbed his head and yanked it to her when he turned away from her, pressing her face as close as she would allow "Payback's a bitch" she kicked him in the nuts, and watched him drop. "See?" she hovered over his downed form "I made sure you didn't miss your birthday present"  
  
*****   
  
Heh, finally got to the good stuff. Wanted to do the 'Cree kicks Jack's ass' thing for a while. But I don't want him to know it was her yet b/c that would take away the effect. Wanted her to be tougher then she was but still damaged from what he did, after all the loser sold her into a brothel.  
  
Hope the M/L was to everyone's liking. I'll go more into it in later chapters, but it's more interesting and rewarding to me if it builds instead of just going all out in one chapter.  
  
I originally wanted to have Ming be a doctor (hence the naming of her husband and herself. Ming Na the actress off of ER, and Peter as in Benton on ER) but I went for a cop b/c she could be involved in finding Cree. Her and Jade will find out where she is in later chapters, going for a tear jerker, rip your heart out reunion.  
  
The food Ming was making is dedicated to one of my favorite foods, ox tail soup. Being half Korean I eat it a lot, and don't let the name fool you, it's good, ox is beef so it's not wired tasting. My mom and aunts make a damn good soup, and I got hungry just writing this part.  
  
R/R please, and I'm going to keep going whether or not DA makes it out of re-runs. 


	16. Sit Down and Shut Up

Chapter 16 "Sit Down and Shut Up"  
  
A/N: Sorry for not getting this out sooner, but I've been working on "Choices" chapter 14, and got way into that.   
  
*****   
  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
  
"Logan" Max opened the door to the penthouse, calling his name, making it echo around the large room.  
  
"What the hell kinda fucked up game is this?" with Max was Cree and Jack, who Max had roughed up and tied up with a bandana Cree had kept in her locker.  
  
Max yanked Jack back to her by the ends of the bandana that stuck out behind his head where she covered his eyes so he wouldn't know where they were going "Did I say you could talk? And if you want to still keep that ability stop actin' like a wanna be badass" she shoved him head first on the couch. "Take a seat"  
  
Logan emerged from around one of the glass walls that lined the living room "Max, what's up? Shouldn't you be at work?" he noticed a tiny scratch on her face when she had to fight with Jack to get him on her bike. "Are you okay-"  
  
"I'm good" Max interrupted his show of concern "We just got someone for you to meet" Max yanked the bandana off of Jack's eyes, making the boy flinch at the sudden rush of light after the confinement of the blindfold. "Jack Warren, name sound familiar?"  
  
"Defiantly" Logan agreed "About time to put a face with the ID"  
  
"Who the hell are you?" Jack turned to face Logan. He tugged at the bonds Max had tied around his wrists "What the fuck is this shit?"   
  
"Thought I told you to drop the macho games" Max spoke out  
  
Jack stood up "You better back the hell off bitch-" his words were cut off when Logan stepped over to the couch and punched him right across the mouth, making the kid reel forward from the force.   
  
"We're not even yet kid" Logan's words were very pissed, "You're already in deep shit for making money off degrading girls, kidnapping, and being a god damn prick, not to mention the crap you pulled with my best friend two days ago. So if I were you I would shut the hell up, because if I hear you call her a bitch again I'll make your home a tiny little jail cell where you and the rats can lick your own piss off the scummy floor to survive"  
  
Jack sucked the blood from his lip that had come as a result of the knocking Logan had given him. "Why don't you drop the bad ass shit Eastwood." he leered at the other man  
  
"Shut up!" Max gripped his hair and yanked his head backwards on the couch to face her where she was standing above it. "From this point on you don't speak unless you're spoken too." she walked around to the front of the couch. "Q&A time ass, you get a metal for all the girls you sell into torture?" she sat in front of him on the coffee table.  
  
"Don't know what you're talking about girl" Jack lied, but he was a terrible liar.  
  
"Come off it Warren" Logan growled "You've left a paper trail better then a damn boy scout. You think know one will catch up to you even if you get a little sloppy?"  
  
"Hey I'm not sloppy" Jack broke in I'm just-"  
  
"Stupid, shit, scum, sleaze, slime, sludge, son-of-a-bitch." Cree rattled off a list of names she kept banked on what she thought of her ex "And that's just in the S's Jack"  
  
Jack glanced at her, staring at her for a while, finally being able to remember her name "Cree Amston, my one and only"   
  
"Drop that phony bull shit Jack" Cree shot out hatefully "I haven't been anybody's one and only in a long time because of you-"  
  
"You can be sugar" Jack tried to sweet talk her "Could come back with me cause I got this friend who'd like to-"  
  
"Scuse me if I don't believe you jack ass. I know the "friends" you hang with, same ones that got you 200 cash money three years ago. Sorry if I grew up since then, and am not so naive that I'd throw myself at your cock and bull story, but hey I guess that's the price you pay for being a pimped out fucked up prick." her words were as cold as ice, matching the look in her eyes.  
  
"Sure you had your share of cock girl" Jack leered at her.  
  
"I've got a knife pointed at your nuts Jack" Cree had removed her switch blade and placed the tip of the blade down towards Jack's lower half "Keep talking" she turned her eyes back up to him.   
  
"Don't remember you having such a mouth girl." Jack leered at her   
  
"Keep yours shut ass or this blade will be on the up and up" she pricked the end of the knife into loose flap of denim hanging from the crotch of his jeans.  
  
"What do you want Jack?" Max asked, "How much of a cut are you getting for stalking my girl here?"  
  
"I'm not getting anything!" Jack spat "She ran away, and I gotta get her back before my guy splatters my brains everywhere."  
  
"Oh so this scum sent a little perp to do his collecting, well ya know what scratch that boy, 'cause I'll shake you down so hard you're teeth will rattle for weeks if you even knock one hair out of place on her head. As for getting your brains splattered, I believe it, cause I want to do that right now. But you must be cashing in something shit, you've dropped your blip off the radar for years before and you can sure as hell do it again, so drop the crap and start telling the truth."  
  
"I get 300" Jack finally admitted, when Cree jammed the knife deeper "Half now and half when I get her back-"  
  
"Well that's not gonna happen" Logan interrupted "The jail cell will come later, but in the mean time you're going into one of my safe houses and kept under guard until you spill on everything you know about the men you made yourself available to for hire"  
  
"What if I don't want that shit?" Jack made a slight yelp when Cree's knife finally found some skin through the denim  
  
"Then you obviously don't want this shit," she growled, twisting the knife around.  
  
*****   
  
153 KEYSTONE AVE  
SECTOR 9  
8:55 PM  
  
Max threw Jack into the one room place that Logan had reserved as a safe house for informants. The same one Bruno Anselmo was kept before.   
  
"Enjoy your stay at the low budget inn, if you don't find the accommodations to your liking we really don't give a crap." She shoved him over to the bed and handcuffed one of his hands to the bed railing. After securing him to the bed she reached into Jack's pockets.  
  
"We could do this on the bed baby-" he was cut off when Max death squeezed his arm from underneath his leather jacket before pulling out a silver wireless phone. "I'm sorry, outside communication is not allowed." she pocketed the cell and headed over to the phone jack in the wall, and removed the entire wire from the phone and the wall.  
  
"What if my guy comes looking for me?" Jack asked agitated "Huh?"  
  
"Remember our motto" Max reminded, "We. Don't. Give. A. Crap. After you give the 411 I don't care if you're molested by rabid transsexual monkeys." she sat on the chair across from the bed. Max had agreed to 'baby-sit' Jack for the night, since she didn't need sleep.  
  
The cell phone Logan had given her rang. She pulled it out.  
  
"We never close"  
  
"You make it there with Jack okay?" Logan asked on the other line  
  
"Delivered the slime to the slime hole." Max stood up and walked to the small closet bathroom because she really didn't want Jack listening in on her call. "Cree make it home okay?" since the incident with her being attacked outside of Crash Max and Cindy agreed to let her crash with them so the girl could have some company other then the rats at her dump.  
  
"Called your place about thirty minutes ago. Cindy's taking her out to Crash."  
  
"Makes you wonder what they're saying bout us"  
  
"Is there a reason to wonder?"  
  
"Not really" Max shrugged "I mean, should there be?"  
  
"None that I can think of" Logan agreed  
  
"Me neither" There was a minute of silence "Thanks for what you said, you know bout me being your best friend and all-"  
  
"I meant every word of it Max." Logan interrupted, waiting for some kind of reply "Was their something else?"  
  
"No" Max admitted "Just thanks, nice to be loved that much."  
  
/Shit/ Logan was thinking on the other line /Does she mean love like friend love, the love she has for Zack, or the other kind? The kind that I wanted when I kissed her that night?/  
  
"Logan you there?"  
  
/Shit say something man, just open your damn mouth/ "Glad you feel that way" /Bravo you talked, but what the hell was that?/  
"I mean I'm glad you feel comfortable with me."  
  
"I always feel comfortable with you" Max responded, "Never really had that many people who loved me."  
  
"Well I do" /did I just say that out loud?/  
  
"Oh" Max was a little taken aback at that remark. "Guess the feelings mutual." she paused "I gotta get back to babysitting."  
  
"Yeah, and I need to get back to work." Logan mused up his hair.  
  
"Logan"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Thanks for the kiss. Figure with all the sleaze I suck face with on my bed in heat there might as well be one guy that actually meant something by it."  
  
"Yeah" Logan repeated again, not really knowing what to say to that "Goodnight Max" he hung up, and stared at the wall, processing the whole conversation again.  
  
"Bye" Max disconnected the call. She exited the bathroom, and sat back in the chair.  
  
"So Max-" Jack tested out the name. "You gonna keep me under guard so no one hurts me?" he emphatized the word "hurt" looking her up and down like a car he wanted to buy.  
  
"No" Max corrected, walking over to the bed and shoving him down on it hard "I'm going to make sure you don't slither off into the night so *I* don't have to hurt you." she patted the side of his face "That's a good boy." she got off the bed and sat back in the dusty red chair. "How about some entertainment?" he leered.  
  
Max threw a magazine at him "Read if you know how" she sighed /Gonna be a long night/  
  
*****  
  
I didn't feature Cree's family in here like in the last chapter, but I wanted to go further with what happened after Max and Cree beat up Warren. The idea of putting him in the safe house was inspired by the crappy time Bruno Anselmo gave Max in "Red", wanted something like that in here, minus the whipped cream idea Anselmo had in the hotel. *shudders*  
  
My little version of Logan acting bad assed with Jack was done to fill my "something to be desired" after reading countless fanfics where he is so overly sappy he might as well be a woman. (ducks as mushy relationshippers throw rocks). Logan has a sensitive side, but c'mon, he's still a man, a sweet man yes, but sweet has its limits. Just like Max isn't always so bad assed, Logan can get pissed off.  
  
the M/L thing will go deeper, I'm just building to it.  
  
R/R please. I'm still not done...I'll be around for a while...peace. 


	17. Lines of Communication

Chapter 16 "Lines of Communication"  
  
A/N: I'm back guys. Sorry it's been a while. I was working on "Choices 14" and then I was in Mississippi for ten days for a youth camp. But I didn't forget my fics, gave me time to think about this next chapter.  
  
*****  
  
34 RED IBIS LANE  
LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA  
6:55 PM  
  
This time when Jade came back home from Karate practice her mother wasn't there to greet her in the kitchen. Jade set her black duffel bag on the counter top, pulling out a hand written note that had been stuck underneath it.  
  
*Had to work a drug sting guys. Promise I'll be careful. Should be home by one at the latest if all goes down the way it should  
  
Love ya*  
  
Ming was a seasoned cop, with years of experience under her belt, but her family still worried about her. Jade grabbed her bag and headed towards her room.  
  
Her room. It seemed so weird to her. Up until Cree's disappearance, the two sisters had always shared a room. Neither of them had a real problem with it when they were little, considering it a giant slumber party every night. But as Cree got older she wanted the space that every teen girl desired. She and Jade had argued over it for a long time, Cree telling her little sister that she didn't love her any less if she got the permission to move into their dad's old den; just that she needed some time to herself.  
  
Ming and Peter finally started to waiver on the idea. They had finally decided to do it and wanted to save it for a birthday present, but decided instead to tell their oldest daughter after she came back from the Karaoke bar.  
  
But that chance had gone to hell after that night.  
  
Jade threw her stuff on her sister's empty black wood bed. Their room had originally been the master bedroom so it was very spacious, with a view over the Los Angeles Skyline. Ming and Peter had paid off the house in about a year with some help from Ming's brother who was a Neurosurgeon, and had converted another bedroom into another master so their daughters could have a big room from the start.  
  
Cree's side of the room remained just as was that night before she left to meet her sister at the bar, the red dress Cree had wanted to wear, but decided against still lay where she draped it over the headboard. Even her black sandal heals were positioned at the head of the bed in the same disarray that the girl had left them in when she heard Jack's car horn from the window.  
  
Jade wiped off some of the sweat from her practice with her white gym towel; pitching her bag into the walk-in closet they had shared.  
  
She sat on her bed, looking at Cree's side of the room, finding it weird to see it so clean. Neither Cree nor her were exactly neat freaks. They cleaned up after themselves, but they usually had the tendency to only clean up "well" once a month.  
  
Ming had straightened out a little, trying to induce home therapy by allowing herself to sort through her daughter's things.  
  
The digital clock on the black end table flashed a bright red "7:00" /Should study for that bio exam/ Jade grabbed her school books, spreading out her notes and biology worksheets atop the covers on her bed.  
  
She drew her legs under her body and sat cross-legged, opening the textbook in her lap. She mentally went through the process of mitosis and meiosis, using anagrams and analogies to keep them fresh in her mind for the test tomorrow.   
  
The red cordless phone ringing on the dresser broke her concentration. Cree checked her watch /7:25 Not too late, probably mom, or maybe Chelsea/ Jade climbed off the bed, careful not to disturb her set up. She picked up the phone, hearing the "click" as she pressed the "talk button"  
  
"Hello?"  
  
There was no sound on the other line except for the very faint noise of music playing in the background.  
  
"HELLO?" Jade tried again, louder /Too late for pranks/ "Who is this?"  
  
Still nothing but very quiet music, "Is anyone there?"  
  
She finally hung up, frustrated. /Who was that?/ Her thoughts were reeling. She sat back on her bed, trying to gain her concentration back.  
  
"Jade?"  
  
The voice made her look up. Peter Amston looked in the room "Hey how was practice?"  
  
"Fine" Jade answered, not looking up.  
  
At 5'10 with chocolate brown hair and hazel eyes Peter was a handsome man, not really loosing much in the looks department at his current age of 43. His job as a construction worker kept him in shape, as well as the days when had two little girls to chase around. His jeans and blue cotton Pistons shirt smelled of his soap and clean laundry.  
  
"Mom's working late" Jade spoke out to her dad  
  
"I know" Peter informed, "I saw the note. Sure she'll be fine honey"  
  
"You trying to convince me or yourself?" Jade asked in a light joke  
  
It got Peter to smile. "You eat yet?"  
  
"Mom made soup"  
  
Peter smiled again "My woman makes soup and I missed it. Guess it's frozen pizza for me"  
  
"There's still some left in the fridge," Jade told him   
  
"Why don't you join me?" seeing her about to disapprove he went on "C'mon take a study break, you can keep me company, nibble on some bread or something. Please? Your dad don't wanna be alone tonight" his voice went melodramatic.  
  
"Dad your nuts" Jade analyzed.  
  
"Comes from living with mom all these years"  
  
Jade climbed off her bed "Okay then. Ten minutes dad, I need to keep working"  
  
Peter's smile was proud "Yes ma'am"  
  
Jade was about to join her father when her phone rang again  
  
"Hello?"   
  
Nothing, just like before  
  
"Stop doing this" Jade hung up.  
  
"What was that?" Peter heard the call  
  
"Nothing" Jade reassured her father "Some prank caller"  
  
"If you say so sweetie" Peter agreed with his daughter "If it happens too much, let mom know so her department can run a check."  
  
"Eat first," Jade stated, realizing how hungry she was then. She hadn't eaten since 1:00. She followed her dad into the kitchen.  
  
*****  
  
SEATTLE   
SECTOR 10  
  
"Boo whatcha up to?" Cindy came out of the bathroom, drying off the ends of her hair.  
  
"Nuthin' really" Cree hung up the phone, setting the unit back in the base. "Hope Max is doin' okay alone with Jack" she changed the subject, listening to the Ashanti CD playing in the stereo for a few more seconds before switching it off.  
  
Cindy threw the towel on a chair and joined Cree on the couch. "My girl can take care of herself. Jack's the only one you need to worry bout"  
  
"Probably right there" Cree agreed, raking her hands through her jet-black hair.  
She felt Cindy brush back some hair, and turned to see what she was doing.  
  
"Nice" Cindy was looking at the dragon tattooed on Cree's shoulder.   
  
"Convinced my mom to let me get it for my 15th birthday." Cree told her "Had to let her know, since I wasn't legal she needed to sign a consent." Her voice changed as she spoke of her mother.  
  
Cindy dropped the hair back over Cree's back without a word. "Your moms, kinda business is she in?"  
  
"LAPD" Cree answered back   
  
Cindy looked at her "For real? Sounds like my kinda woman."  
  
"Thanks" Cree took it as a compliment. "Gamma wanted her to go into a 'distinguished field' like medicine, but mom was kinda a rebel. She entered the Police Academy a year after she and daddy got married. Might've made sergeant once but she took two three month leaves to have me and my baby sister, so she decided it'd be too long hours to be away from her babies" Cree's voice held pride when she told her new friend about her mother's accomplishments; but it was also terribly sad.   
  
The first few days at Hell, when she was allowed time in-between customers on slow days she would lie on the grimy "client bed" (always chained) and would think of her mother; of what she would do, especially as a cop, when she saw her daughter in a place like that. As three painful years rolled by Cree switched her wishing from being able to go back home, to being able to see her mom once more before her captures or a customer killed her.   
  
But after she saw that door left open by that man, she had made up her mind that she wanted to live long enough to see her family, and to seek vengeance on Jack for stealing her innocence.  
  
When her body was being abused by a nameless man with bad breath; one of the only things that kept her stamina from going out was visualizing Jack's balls coming away in her hands after she sliced them off and then made him eat them piece by piece.  
  
"Girl you okay?" Cindy didn't like the way Cree had gone quiet all of a sudden.  
  
Cree sighed, "I know he never loved me Cindy, but he was the first guy I was ever with and now-" a pause "I don't know if I can ever be comfortable around men again. I'll just think of them all as an ass with a plan like Jack or just asses like all them who came to me for a hit"  
  
"Suga, Original Cindy knows that you've been through more shit then she could ever deal with, and inspite her non-preference of the other gender; the male species ain't all shit face lyin' playas. Take my boo's squeeze," Cindy turned to face Cree more "Seemed like a straight up blue collared white guy; but he's put himself out there for Max; helpin' her with family shit, even done OC a few favors. Boys down."  
  
"Yeah but he's in the minority." Cree argued  
  
"So's the Jack Warren crowd" Cindy let her know "Don't let that fucker win his game wid you. Break off his shit, take your life back."  
  
"I want too," Cree admitted, tucking her legs under her body  
  
"Then go ahead girl" Cindy finished "Deserve the renewal shot more then half the peeps I know."  
  
"Do my best" Cree lightened her tone a little. "Thanks" her voice was sincere.  
  
Cindy hugged her "No prob boo." She pulled back "You're my girl now too so I got your back."  
  
"Gotta meet my mom when I hook up with her again." Cree told her   
  
"S'what I'm talkin' bout suga" Cindy offered her a smile. "Whatdya say we make this a veg out night? "Tomb Raider" comes on in five. Croft is a fine piece of woman."  
  
"Defiantly." Although Cree wasn't a lesbian, she did think Laura Croft was a good looking woman.  
  
Cindy flipped on the TV, switching the channels to movie they wanted.  
  
"Logan ever do movies with Max?" Cree asked randomly as they waited for the movie to start.   
  
Cindy shook her head negatively "Max always claims Logan makes dinner for her, they talk, play chess and then she's back here, that's it." There was disbelief in Cindy's tone.  
  
"Never pulled an all nighter?" Cree asked, "I mean the man's sweet and he's hot, it's the best combo."  
  
"My girl's old shit face Darren was only after her for the gong bangin'. Finally my boo let him know where he could shove it. Max's got a bad rap with her past, hard for her in the commitment side of things"  
  
"Sounds like someone I know" Cree informed "Gonna be fireworks when those two consummate."  
  
"Explosions boo" Cindy corrected as the movie finally started.  
  
*****   
  
153 KEYSTONE AVE  
SECTOR NINE  
9:12 PM  
  
"Yeah I'm feelin' you just fine" Jack breathed into the phone as Max came back through the bathroom door.  
  
"Want me to lick you baby?" The voluptuous woman cooed on the other line in a deep throaty voice.  
  
"Oh yeah" Jack agreed  
  
"Janet" gave a deep sigh/sex noise "Where at?"  
  
"Pick your spot-" his sentence was cut short by Max yanking the phone from him.  
  
"What the hell are you doin'?" she spat at him, seeing him with the phone that he had managed to find another line for.  
  
"Baby?" Janet voice came through the phone.  
  
"Baby's tied up right now. Need to get your skank on with someone else" she hung up and threw the phone against the wall, smashing the receiver in pieces.  
  
"Can't cut me off from the world!-" Jack argued in a pissy voice.  
  
"Hittin' Dial-A-Porn don't count as connectin' with society." She shoved Jack back down on the bed.  
  
"Wouldn't have to walk my fingers down porn numbers at all if you'd give into your desires-"  
  
"Got a desire to loose that little limp snake in your pants?" she gripped his neck, then let it go. "Next time you got somethin' to say that didn't make it from your brain to your mouth I'd shut it up."  
  
She fell back into the chair she had been occupying all this time, leafing through an old magazine. /Prick/  
  
Her phone rang again.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Holdin' up?" Logan asked from the other end.  
  
"You down on the phrase 'you owe me'?"  
  
"You volunteered Max," he informed  
  
"Didn't know 'babysitting a porn hungry slime sucker was in the contract."  
  
"It's in the fine print right after 'ass kicking'" Logan answered.  
  
"Don't sound so amused" Max spoke out  
  
"I'm not"  
  
"Good to know"  
  
"Yeah" Logan agreed "So anyway I called because I coming around the hallway right now. Thought you'd might like break-"  
  
"Bring food?"  
  
"Of course"  
  
"Then you da man"  
  
Logan knocked on the door a few seconds later. "Hey"  
  
"Sorry I didn't have a chance to clean the place up" Max quipped, moving aside to let him in.  
  
Logan set the bag on the chair since the room completely lacked chairs. "I didn't have time to make anything. It's just take-out Chinese."  
  
"Better then the rat carcasses in the fridge." She pulled out the box of mu-shu pork   
and re-claimed her seat, immediately diving into the food.  
  
"So" Logan looked around the room, stopping his gaze on Jack "Handling things here?"  
  
"Breakin' him in" Max said after swallowing "Shoots his mouth off I smack him down, yadayada"  
  
"Gonna let a guy starve to death?" Jack called out from where he was handcuffed  
  
"You can go two weeks without food slime." Max answered, but after a second she threw a fortune cookie at his head "Can't stand to see a dumb animal suffer."  
  
"He tried to make a break yet?" Logan spoke in hushed tones to Max  
  
"Once, he's got some nice handcuff burns from the attempt" she chucked the now empty take-out box in the trash.  
  
"You get the chance to grill him?"  
  
"Yeah, interrogated some shit out of him. Turns out his guy was suppose to meet him at his chop shop to check his progress on bringing in Cree. Still didn't give me an address."  
  
Logan didn't say anything, turning to face Jack "Where were you suppose to meet up with your boss?"  
  
"Told you before man." Jack began "Ain't none of you or your pissy girlfriend's business what I do when I do it. Not breakin' out total anarchy on my boy."  
  
Logan became impatient, and this time he was the one to grip Jack by his neck, not as hard as Max was able to do, but enough to lessen the flow of air from the boy's windpipe.  
  
"Wanna know about anarchy? If you don't tell me the location of that place I'll make sure you spend your prison days getting spit at and roughed up by some bigoted hands on some communists streets."  
  
"Place is a warehouse in Sector 13." Warren finally admitted  
  
"Numbers shit." Max got up from the chair and stood beside Logan  
  
"23 34th Street. Place is old storage warehouse" Jack at last gave them the information "not like it'll do you good. There's enough junk yard pit bulls to leave you in pieces on the ground."  
  
Logan ignored his comment "Say we check it out."  
  
"Whose gonna baby-sit?" Max asked  
  
"I could call in a favor to Det. Sung, there might be a drunk tank open tonight."  
  
"Then make the call" Max informed  
  
*****   
  
I put a little more of Logan getting pissy in here b/c I don't think he'd go back down to genteel with Jack in the same room. His stint about anarchy is dedicated to Mulder's remark to that prisoner in the ep called "Terma" on X Files.  
  
Cindy and Cree's discussion of the M/L thing was inspired as well by what Cindy and Kendra would say about the pair in season one.  
  
This series is not ending anytime soon, I want a decent ending, not one just thrown together in ten minutes.  
  
Next chapter, I'll add a lil more M/L  
  
R/R/ please 


	18. Don't Want Just a Memory

Chapter 18 "Don't Want Just a Memory"  
  
  
A/N: It's back again everyone, hope you like. The title was taken from one of the lines of one of my favorite books; and I just thought it fit here.  
  
*****   
  
Before I get started, this is an original penned poem by me on sex slavery  
I was going to post it separately, but it will go better here ...   
  
Shackled to the Dark  
  
The light is non-existent, my body is sore  
The man who was just with me has now walked out the door  
  
The blood pools around me, my skin is full of heat  
I have been abused again, a rented piece of meat  
  
My breath is in my ears, it hurts so much to think  
Fifteenth or twentieth time today, I cannot find the link  
  
Men come in lines, cash money on the table  
They don't care that I'm bleeding, don't care that I'm not able  
  
Dark and darker hours, they dip into my well  
Ride me hard and fast, and leave me chained in hell  
  
Dignity is gone, love no longer has my link  
Lying in my chains, all I do is think  
  
Will this one get me pregnant? Will the baby die 'cause it's weak?  
Conceived in a scank hole, fathered by a freak  
  
The door opens once again, the next ride to hell has come  
I can't even feel it when this time is done  
  
I never see the money, I never see the light  
The job that I was promised, has never filled my sight  
  
Listen to me quickly, before this time goes by  
Slavery still exists, people tell you lies  
  
Women lie in shackles, hell has found its fame  
Sex crimes are real, girls are put to shame  
  
Please don't believe the lie, alert people to the truth  
Before another girl dies, another looses her youth  
  
The lies fall somewhere else, this is all true  
And with all due respect, this girl-  
She could be you.  
  
  
  
  
  
*****  
  
LOS ANGELOUS, CALIFORNIA  
10:08 PM  
SECTOR NINE  
  
Ming watched the movements in a crack house from the patrol car; observing the people inside's silent exchange of baggies filled with the narcotic.  
  
Beside her, her partner Officer Dalton also watched the exchange through his binoculars. "Guy's got more crystal on him then Home Shopping" he dropped the binoculars and looked at Ming "Time to bust it wide open"  
  
Ming radioed back to HQ that they were about to bust down the deal before joining Dalton outside the patrol car.  
  
Both partners removed their 9 mm from their holsters as they ascended the old white wooden house the two men had just gone into.  
  
"FREEZE!" Dalton was the first one inside, aiming his gun at the two men "LAPD, Hands where I can see them!"  
  
"Do it!" Ming shouted to the kids "Raise'em up now!" she approached him slowly, "Move'em behind your back" she took out her handcuffs and cuffed the teen's hands behind his back  
  
"Wasn't doing anything wrong!" the second kid argued to them as Dalton hauled him out the old rickety front door while Ming dealt with his buddy.  
  
"Decided to hold up in this old shack to read your Catechism?" Dalton pushed his charge down the stairs where his squad car was parked. He searched the kid's pockets, pulling out three small bags of cocaine crystals from the pockets in his cargo pants. "Let me guess, sugar for the lemonade after youth group" he threw the baggies on top of his hood before opening the back door "Watch your head" pushed the boy into the back and shut the door.  
  
"Whatcha got?" Dalton approached Ming, who was searching the other kid against the other side of the car.  
  
"Kilo of crack" Ming threw the plastic bag next to the others "Thirty-five cash money"  
the bills landed next to the bagged crystals "And some insulin syringes" she looked to her charge "You were out for a good time tonight huh buddy? Shootin' and snortin'"  
  
"Nothing wrong with that" the youth argued  
  
"Fraid US law thinks there is" Ming informed "How long you been dealin' here?"  
  
"Here?" he paused "Goin' on my third year baby"  
  
"Not gonna make it to number four though" Ming told him opening the back car door of the officer's squad car who had been dispatched out to the crack house as back up.   
  
"Minor set back" the kid returned climbing into the car unassisted "Keep the daughters off the streets ya'll" he spoke as if he were talking to a large group of people "playa's gonna be back on the streets soon enough" the last word were muffled by the closing of the patrol car door.  
  
"Guys seem to be gettin' younger each year" Dalton stated "Little boys thinkin' they thugs. Keep daughters off the streets-" he blew the thought off "Man my little girl could kick his ass" it was then that he looked up and noticed Ming staring into the sky blankly. "Hey Ming"  
  
Ming turned when Dalton addressed her  
  
"You okay?"  
  
Ming didn't answer right away, looking at the stars that decorated the black sky above them "You and the other guys think I'm crazy huh?" she looked back down to her partner "Kids go missing and turn up in months by rural highways, three years is a dead chance"  
  
"You honestly believe that?" Dalton asked her "That what you go to sleep at night thinking 'oh it's hopeless, just drop it and move on"  
  
"I'm tired of not going to sleep at all 'cause I stay awake thinkin' what she looks like now" her voice which was barking and strong a minute ago became sad "All I have are memories"  
  
"They're good though" Dalton told her   
  
Ming shook her head "They suck when all you want is the real thing" She climbed into the passenger side of the patrol car without saying anything else.  
  
*****   
  
SEATTLE CITY JAIL  
SECTOR TEN  
  
Detective Sung locked the door to one of the cells lined up for drying up drunks, peering at Jack through the spaces in-between the metal bars. "Enjoy your stay"  
  
"Deal better be legit" Max stood beside the cell, staring its occupant down   
  
"Swear it on the fact that you'll still be scank ass hot in the morning" he leered at her, looking around his new quarters for the night "Funny, this don't meet the qualities of a safe house to me"  
  
"Safe from me for the time being" Max returned "Be a good boy and you might get an exercise wheel in here" she turned and walked over to Sung who stood about a foot to her right  
  
"Thanks for agreein' to the deal" she now stood face to face with Sung  
  
"Not a problem" the man agreed, looking at Jack sitting in the one man cell "One of our regulars black jacked his way outta here tonight to get tainted some more, worked out for the better this time."  
  
Max took another look at Jack, who looked like he was blatantly ignoring her, except for the sleazy glances he shot her out of the corner of his eye "Don't forget to feed him" this remark was addressed at Sung "Don't want you to get charged with animal abuse" she looked at the detective in a quick glance and left down the hall.   
  
*****   
  
9:30 PM  
  
Logan killed the lights of his Aztec when he caught sight of the rickety old warehouse where Jack said it would be.  
  
"Why is it that sleazes always do their shack ups in dumps like this?" Max looked out the passenger side window at the rundown warehouse  
  
A lone rat scurried out from the building, flicking its whiskers in the air. "Probably want to be close to their family" Logan looked at the rat when he said this  
  
Max opened her door and stepped out onto the curb, hearing the front car door slam as Logan joined her a few seconds later.  
  
Max took the lead. She wasn't trying to insult Logan's masculinity, it was just an instinct to her.  
The warehouse had a large sliding aluminum door that was padlocked, but had already been broken by whoever came here tonight.  
  
Max slid the door open with her hands, trying to make little noise, which didn't work because the metal gave way with a creaking that sounded like nails against chalk board. She waited for a second, peering inside to see what effect her loud entrance was causing.   
  
Stepping inside, she was greeted to the sight of nothing but dirt floors and one large suspended dome light fixture hanging from the ceiling. She stepped more into the room, now seeing that the space wasn't completely empty, old scrap metal and a single crow bar were leaning against a structural support beam.  
  
A gunshot broke the silence, echoing off the aluminum walls, making the rattle in protest to the sound.  
  
"Max!" Logan hurried over to where she had dropped to the dirt, obviously hit.  
  
Blood oozed out of the contact point in her side, dripping onto the grit below. "Is it still there?" Max asked through gritted teeth.  
  
Logan understood what she meant and gently felt with his hand at the back of her torso "Think it went all the way through" his hand brushed an exit wound. He took off his jacket and sweater, revealing a white cotton t-shirt underneath, which he also discarded to use as a bandage "Direct pressure-"  
  
"I know" she returned, placing his shirt to her wound, hissing. It just wouldn't be right if she didn't have her bad ass-ness even when she was injured.   
  
Logan began putting his outer layers back on, the warehouse had no heat, and it felt like a refrigerator, and Max was noticing the results of Logan's rigorous work out schedule.  
Injured or not, it was affecting her.  
  
"Who the hell are you?" a voice came out of the shadows, followed by it's owner, aiming an automatic rifle at them.   
  
Logan stood back up, offering a hand to Max who used it to pull herself back on her feet, gripping the cotton shirt to her side.  
  
The nameless man stepped closer to them, looking up from the the scope, still aiming the rifle on them.   
  
"Well maybe you should let us answer that before you open fire again" Logan stated "Just a thought"  
  
This made the man angrier "Best watch your words before I do up your girl with the shells again" he stepped even closer.  
  
"You've done up enough girls already" Max growled to the man  
  
"You no nothing about me bitch!" he spat back  
  
"Know enough bout your slimy ass, ass" she kicked the gun out of his hand with amazing speed, and threw him to the floor.  
  
"Getting a little sick of being called a bitch" she stared at him from the barrel of the rifle, aiming it at him on the floor. "Came to inform you that your little rendezvous dealio ain't goin' down, cause somethin' came up, mainly me"  
  
"Girl whatcha talkin' bout?" he acted all innocent "I don't know nothin' about no rendezvous"  
  
"You're not in a position to lie" Logan stated next to Max "I'm sure the name Jack Warren rings a bell with your demented brain"  
  
"Warren?" the man tested out the name "He's a looser who was doin' a deal with me, just business"  
  
"I know what kind of 'business' your into" Max informed "and my girl ain't commodity for it"  
  
"What I do ain't none of your business, and she ain't your girl she's mine, I make the sales"  
  
Max became incredibly pissed. She lunged forward and grabbed the man by his neck "She don't BELONG to anyone. I ever catch you wanting to shake down my girls again your gonna be peeing through a catheter" she squeezed harder for a second and then released him.  
  
The guy gasped from the sudden change of pressure "You-" the gun was now in his face  
  
"What I tell you bout that?" she stared him down, grimacing slightly when Logan picked up the shirt she had dropped and re-applied pressure to her gunshot wound. She tried to look all bad assed with the gun, but in reality it was all for show. She hated guns.  
  
"What the hell do I do with you?" Max asked to herself  
  
*****   
  
SECTOR TEN  
  
"Boo what happened?" Cindy jumped to her feet when she saw Max enter the apartment clutching at her side with a bloody cloth  
  
"Someone just decided to open fire" Max informed  
  
"Yeah, and looks like you were the target" Cindy said helping Max to sit on the sofa.  
  
Cree, who came out of the bathroom from all the noise was shocked at what she found.  
"My god Max, who the hell did that to you?" her voice was protective of her new friend, just like Max was to her.  
  
Logan had entered the apartment right after Max and headed over to where they all were.  
  
"Boy you best tell me how this happened to my suga" Cindy didn't look at Logan when she said this.  
  
"We went to check out this warehouse that Jack said he had a meet up and some ass decided to play with guns" Logan's upset/pissed off tone was enough to drop Cindy's defensive state, which just happened naturally to her when something happened to Max when she was with Logan.   
  
"Ass just shot me" Max broke in, hissing when Cindy removed the shirt to get a look at the wound.  
  
"Girl this looks nasty" dried blood mingled with fresh, caking on to her skin "I'll get some gauzes or somethin' " she stood back up and headed towards the bathroom.  
  
"What did Jack want with this guy?" Cree asked after handing Max a bunch of waded paper towels to serve as a makeshift bandage for the time being.  
  
"Were lookin' for you" Max answered her honestly "Jack was gettin' paid to find you and bring you back"  
  
Cree went silent for a moment "Damn thing's never over" her voice was full of malice  
  
Cindy came back with some gauze and first aid tape. She triple layered them on each side of the wound and adhered them to Max's skin with first aid tape "You might need stitches or somethin'"  
Cindy went on, looking at her girl "I ain't no doctor boo"  
  
"Should be okay" Max reassured, "Shot was clean" She winced as she shifted her body to stretch out on the length of the couch. The action itself hurt more then Max was letting on, but she wasn't use to broadcasting her emotions, not even to her best friends, it was just the way she had been taught.  
  
Logan however picked up on the change, and silently moved to stand in front of Max, pulling her legs up on the couch cushions.  
  
Max took a moment to settle into her new position, and a few seconds afterwards her eyes locked on his "Thanks"  
  
Logan didn't respond, lowering himself to sit on the coffee table beside the couch. The pair shared a silent, one second look before Logan moved his hand up to Max's face and brushed back a loose lock of her long brown hair with delicate movements.  
  
"I'm sorry I got you into this Max" Cree apologized "You shouldn't be taking hits for me-"  
  
"You didn't ask for this to happen girl" Max interrupted "I don't desert my friends, no matter what shit comes up"  
  
Cree looked at her in silent thanks, almost about to cry, but she bit it back. She was more like Max then she knew "What happened to Jack?"  
  
"Seattle lock up" Logan answered her question, turning to face the young woman "Know a detective down there who threw him into a drunk cell for the time being"  
  
"Yeah, but how long's that gonna last?" Cree asked, addressing Logan, Max, Cindy and the shadows in the room. She was more or less thinking out loud. "Jack's a prick, but he's got escape routes more extensive then the underground railroad. He could easily get some crooked cop to take a bribe for freedom, he's done it before"  
  
"Can't say" Logan answered her previous question "But Det. Sung has him under twenty-four hour guard, and the officer assigned to him has a flawless no-breaking level"  
  
"I'm tryin' to believe you Logan" Cree informed "Your the only decent guy I've met in a long time, but I've been screwed over too many times"  
  
"Hey that's okay" Logan analyzed "It's understandable to feel like that"  
  
"I don't want to though" Cree argued "I'm sick of being scared of every man I see. Know probably none of them are gonna screw me over, but I can't help that damn feeling. Don't know if I can even have a relationship with a man again."  
  
"Don't know bout the mens" Cindy spoke up "But this woman's luvin' her relationship with you"  
  
Cree smiled slightly "Thanks Cindy but I use to always see myself finding some guy, falling in love, maybe getting married, whole normal deal, no dissin' meant or anything"  
  
"Take no offense to it suga. I'd be all over that if you swung my way" Cindy stated "Your the whole package"  
  
"Defiantly" Logan complied  
  
"You best stick to my boo Logan" Cindy notified "But listen to da man Cree. He ain't frontin'"  
  
A few seconds of silence passed between them "Just wonder if my family will feel the same way" Cree broke the quiet "Wonder if I'LL feel good bout myself again. Hard not to look at myself and not feel dirty even if I had no choice who got on top"  
  
"They'll feel for you" Max stated from her lying position "Sure they'll be more thankful that you survived then the morality that got piled on 'cause of it"  
  
"Can't remember a time when they didn't 'feel' for me." Cree agreed "But this is different, 'cause all I have now are memories. Nothin' but thoughts of them."  
  
"Good things to hold onto boo" Cindy broke in  
  
Cree shook her head sadly "don't want just images of them in my head. I want them in front of me, I want them for real. I want to feel them." the word 'feel' was said with such sad emotion it broke a single tear down her cheek.  
  
Despite her pain Max pulled her body up in a sitting position, scooting towards the end of the couch to where Cree had sat down cross legged in front of the coffee table. "Can't give up on that thought" Max's words were soft as she leaned her forehead against the other girl's in a gesture that Cindy had often done for her when she was upset. A moment of supportive, yet sad emotion for a Manticore bred soldier who was not suppose to feel at all.  
  
Seconds of silence came and went before Max pulled back from Cree whose eyes were now damp from tears that had escaped because of Max's sisterly gesture.  
  
*****   
  
LOS ANGELOS, CALIFORNIA  
IBIS LANE  
  
"Hon" Peter came down the stairs to find Ming sitting on the couch, out of her uniform, now dressed casually in her police academy sweatshirt and jeans.   
  
Peter neared closer to his wife and noticed an open photo album resting in her lap.  
  
"Whatcha lookin' at?" the couch cushion dipped from his weight as he sat next to her. He got his answer when he saw the photos of their daughters decorating the opened plastic protected pages.  
  
"There's that jacket she loved again" Ming pointed to the picture of Cree wearing the leather jacket that had been a 14th birthday present" she smiled in memory, looking at her husband.  
  
"Something about youth and leather" Peter agreed "turns something on"  
  
"You know she got if from me" Ming went on  
  
Peter cocked an eyebrow, amused "Oh really?"  
  
She looked back at him, matching his gaze "You know when I strap on the leather I can turn your something on" this time her smile was more on the sexual innuendo side. Being forty-three years old with two kids didn't affect her. She was a wild woman, always had been, always will be.  
  
Peter smiled back "Hey you don't have to tell me" he kissed the side of her face.  
  
After pulling apart Ming went back to looking at the photos, her expression turning sad at the same image of fourteen year old Cree in her leather jacket. Her hand brushed the picture, wishing to physically touch her daughter through the photo. "Guys at work think I'm loosing my mind" she paused "But I just can't give up on her" her gazed traveled upwards to look into Peter's brown eyes "Even if the chances are small at finding her-"  
  
"I know" Peter interrupted before she finished saying every parent's worse nightmare. "But she's gonna make it Ming. She's a fighter baby. We're not suppose to give up on her"  
  
Ming sighed heavily "I can't give up, just hate the son-of-a-bitch who hurt her." a pause "I want her back Peter, I don't want just a memory" she fell into the hug her husband offered, feeling her cop street attitude exterior fall away, leaving the hurt of a mother with a missing child.  
  
"We can't ever give up" Peter repeated his words, hugging his wife "We'll find her"  
  
*****   
  
SEATTLE   
SECTOR TEN  
  
Logan checked his watch again. It was getting late, he really should be getting home. That's what he kept telling himself. But it was hard to do since Max was laying on him. After consoling Cree Max had shifted back to lay on the couch, which Logan had moved on. Rather then making her move again he played the part of a nice guy and stayed put so he wouldn't hurt her by moving, even though she wasn't a genteel lady but a soldier who could lay out Ali's nuts if she wanted to.  
  
Her lower back and most of her torso was spread across his legs. Though they were comfortable enough with each other to invade personal space almost like lovers, their was an uncomfortable 'first date' sense that always crept up on them at times like this. It was one of the reasons of their lack of moving to the next level.  
  
But now, their guard was down, and it made the line of warning blur.  
  
Logan looked down at her again /I should move, staying like this too long will just- Just what Cale? What will it do except unearth feelings you already have/ "I should go" his thoughts won out over his conscious.  
  
Max looked up to him, knowing that they were in deep territory. There was no "just friends" line anymore. Her comfort level at laying in his lap was way too high for a friend. /Tell him to go Maxie, he can't stay, there's too much emotions, emotions make you weak./ "It's late" she agreed.  
  
"Yeah" Logan answered back, but made no move to get up, hoping Cindy or Cree weren't watching this to add fodder to their fire.   
  
"Sector cops are startin' bitchin' hours" Max spoke again  
  
"Defiantly" Logan agreed /Go, just get up and go/   
  
"You could stay"  
  
Logan looked at Max, surprised at what came out of her mouth "You want me too?"  
  
Max shrugged a look with her eyes "Don't hafta risk a sector cop and jail time"  
  
"Right" Logan agreed  
  
Several seconds of silence  
  
"What about-"  
  
"She sleeps in Cindy's bed"  
  
"Oh" Logan spoke a single word  
  
Silence again  
  
"So-"  
  
"So-" their words tripped on each other  
  
"You can crash here" Max spoke up "I don't sleep anyways, it's a waste of couch space"  
  
"You don't have to move for me" Logan argued "This is fine-" "I mean for me"  
  
"Yeah" pause "S'okay" she looked at him again with a hint of a smile. "I might fall asleep on you, getting nailed with iron makes me a little zonked sometimes"  
  
"It's fine" Logan reassured "If you don't drool"  
  
"Manticore doesn't drool Logan" she returned  
  
"Your not Manticore, your Max" Logan answered back  
  
A look passed between them   
  
"Logan?"  
  
He looked down at her again "Yeah?"  
  
"Stay with me" the same words repeated from the night of her revealing her seizures to him  
  
He nodded, touching her forehead completely with the palm of one hand, watching her eyes close "I will"  
  
*****  
  
Sorry for getting this up so late but first I had writer's block, then college started again and I currently have about a million and one papers to write for my classes. I added more M/L to this one, and it should reach it's high point in the next few chapters.  
  
Cree will reunite with her family somewhere two or three chapters from now. I have to set up the reunion in context, not just pull it from nothing just to have a scene.  
  
R/R please 


	19. 60 Second Minute

CHAPTER 19 "60 Second Minute"  
  
A/N: Sorry for the gaps between posts. I've been sooo piled with work at college. I finally one   
of my research papers complete; at least enough for me to be able to proof read it, and NOW all I have left is a works cited page and an outline...at least for that assignment...yep, now only a humanities midterm and oral communications test I have to work for this week..AHH!...sorry...stress moment. Anywayz I appreciate the patience from you guys, makes me feel loved with this kind of loyal fan base. Choices is coming...I've started writing the next chapter. Plus a virus on my computer's been messin' with ALL my word processing programs, won't let me save..so I had to piddle around for five hours until I typed it up completely, THEN it let me save...damn son of a b*itch!..sorry  
  
A/N #2: For everyone who has been patiently waiting for Max and Logan to get into it a bit more, you'll be handsomely rewarded in this chapter. Are they gonna get into the adult stuff? Not gonna say here..that defeats the whole purpose of READING. But there is a subtle hint by the title, which is a variation on the title of Missy Elliot's song "One Minute Man"  
If ya know the song, you'll get it. Remember though guys, there's this character I created in here named Cree, and I kinda like to have her in here too, so keep that in mind.  
  
*****  
  
SECTOR TEN  
  
Cindy headed into her living room, but then stopped dead in her blue fuzzy slippered tracks. "My my my" she meant to just think this, but these words were too good to be wasted on silent thoughts.  
  
My my what?" Cree pushed past the door to the room she shared with Cindy. "You spot a honey on the road girl?" Cree came up to where Cindy was halted on the half rotting wood floor. After taking one look at the scene in the living room, she fully go what Cindy meant. "How cute is that?" Max would kill her for using her name and "cute" in the same sentence, but she wasn't standing here seeing her and Logan asleep on the couch spooned up against each other. Max was on her side and somehow Logan had maneuvered himself during the night to lay behind her, one arm hidden from view while the other was lightly wrapped around her waste just above where the blood stained gauze was tapped to her side.  
  
"Never knew my boo to snooze so long" Cindy didn't take her eyes off the pair "Guess all she needed was a good squeeze toy.  
  
"Kinda at a loss here." Cree turned to Cindy "Wake'em up or no?"  
  
"Normal's gonna blow a gasket if Max is late" Cindy informed "But when have I ever cared bout how Mr. bip bip bip gets his ya yas out?"  
  
"True" Cree agreed "God I wish I had a camera" /That is so freakin' adorable. Gonna mess with her bout this until her and Logan make his neighbor's complain about all the noise at night in that penthouse of his/  
  
"Wish I had me somethin' like my boo does in the all girl variety" Cindy returned.  
  
Max must've gotten the sensation someone was watching her because she soon shifted and slowly opened her eyes to see her two friends making her the subject of their attention.   
  
"Mornin' suga" Cindy greeted Max with an 'mmhmm' smile/c/p  
  
"How long have you guys been doin' that?" Max asked of the guilty parties  
  
"Long enough" Cree answered the question  
  
"Hey sleeping beauty" Max lightly hit Logan's hand with her palm "We got an audience"  
  
Logan lifted his head from where it was lying "Funny how this doesn't seem like my bedroom" he looked over at Max "But then again this place has a much better view" he paused for a moment, "How's your side?" he was still not addressing Cindy or Cree.  
  
"Sore" Max went for straight forward, wincing as she got up from her lying position, feeling a push of support from Logan's hand on her back between her shoulder blades. After she was fully upright she headed into the bathroom to clean herself up.  
  
"Guess we missed the party" Cree said to Logan once Max was out of earshot  
  
Logan sat up on the couch and rubbed his eyes "Not like anything major went on" he grabbed his glasses from where he had set them on the back of the couch last night and put them on.  
  
"Tryin' to convince us or yourself boo?" Cindy asked brining a cup of coffee to the small table in the "dining room" section of the living room.  
  
From the bathroom Max could hear her girls giving Logan a hard time about what went down after they went to sleep. He was giving them the "right" answer-NOTHING. Nothing that would equal the equivalent of anything hot and heavy, they just fell asleep together.  
  
She pulled her hair into a loose ponytail, turning the sink water to around lukewarm. With the odor free, antibacterial, hospital style soap bar by the sink she set about cleansing her face of the grit and sweat that had accumulated there from hitting the ground after she was shot last night. The basin soon cut off and she dried off with a clean red cotton towel hanging on its rack.  
  
She shoved the towel back on the metal rack and pulled her blue tank top over her head, discarding it on the floor. With careful hands she pealed back the gauze that was taped across her side. "Shit" she cursed in a whisper under her breath as the gauze came away pulling at her skin because of dried blood that had congealed to the wound. The action of removing the old dressing had set the wound bleeding again. She quickly dressed it again, rubbing petroleum jelly on the gauze to keep it from sticking to it.  
  
Taking a rag off the counter top she wiped the bits of blood that had leaked onto her side and her stomach. This cleaning was just messing with the very top, she was filthy. She really needed a two day shower right now to get all the grime and sweat and blood off her. But that bullet wound would hurt like a bitch under water, and she didn't want to literally spend two days getting in and out of the bathroom. Her reflection in the mirror showed a few light scrapes from where she had fallen yesterday, and two or three healing road rash marks from where that idiot had made her drop on the road. There was a very light bruise under her right cheekbone from where Warren had slammed her into a wall before she got her upper hand on him. Her sprained quads were almost completely healed but they still bore a long scabby mark from healing flesh.  
  
She looked like she got beat up by an ass boyfriend. Yanking a towel down from off the rack she slipped off her jeans and lingerie and wrapped the towel over her bare form. She killed the lights and stepped back out into the living room with noting but a towel hiding her assets from everyone's view.  
  
"Wouldn't believe how filthy I am" Max made small talk as she walked across the living room casually. She showed no embarrassment, Cindy and Cree were women like her, and women generally had no real problem being half dressed in front of other women they knew. And as for Logan, Max had grown up in a place that had no privacy, all facilities were unisex, so being half dressed in front of men or boys didn't bother her. There had been one other instance besides this, during that assignment for Logan that landed her in a pile of filth, that Logan had seen her in nothing but a cotton towel improvised dress, so there wasn't any real awkwardness.  
  
"Look like something the cat clawed at boo" Cindy said noting the accumulated scratch and bruise marks on her friend's body.  
  
"Should just stay home today Max" Cree added her two cents "Tell Normal you got assaulted or somethin' you already look the part.  
  
"He'd never believe it" Max informed "Basically Logan's 'doctor notes' have been the only thing he let me off the hook for"  
  
"Could do it again Max" Logan let her know "No offense, but you look like crap"  
  
What? You don't like the new style?" Max asked him in a 'Ms. Thang' tone.   
  
"Kinda lack there of" Logan informed  
  
"Scuse me?"   
  
"Joke Max, relax. You pull of a towel real well okay" Logan reassured her /crap, why the hell did I say that? "pull off a towel real well", sounds like I'm trying to seduce her, not that that's bad...stop, get off it, not the right place for these thoughts, don't make her kick your ass/  
  
"Give Normal an eyeful though so I better get a new outfit" Max said this and entered her bedroom, closing the door behind her.  
  
Cindy eyed Logan with a knowing look "Gonna lay some advice on you Logan that I gave my boo before. You got an itch, go scratch."   
  
"Don't know what you're talking about" Logan feigened complete innocence  
  
"Boy I wasn't born yesterday" Cindy snapped back "Me and Cree and pretty much the rest of the world know you got it bad for Max. Don't go wastin' time pretending' your two are just chummy. My boo deserves to be happy Logan, and we both know you can take her there."  
  
Logan was about to say something to that, but the opening of Max's bedroom door halted his attempts. Max came out of her room now dressed in black cut off biker pants and a dark gray muscle tank top. Her bandage was slightly visible from the cut off point of the tank top which showed a small amount of skin.   
  
She had heard what Cindy had said, being the super soldier that she was. /Is it really that bad?/ She glanced over at Logan, seeing his slight trapped look, but also recognizing what Cindy said to be true.  
  
"Goin' home sometime today loner?" Max fell into her usual banter with Logan to drag him out of the tension.   
  
"You sick of me already Max?" he asked her   
  
"No" she answered way to over eager /think of somethin' girl, quick/ "Can't just hang around my apartment all day. You're getting a little ripe yourself" she wiped flecks of dirt that had accumulated on his neck "Need a shower"  
  
/Wanna join me?/ Her hand felt warm and soft against his skin, and he tried to hide the way it was affecting him. "You sure you're up for work?" he effectively changed the subject.  
  
"I'm ready for anything" she was thankful for the release in tension herself. Not that she didn't want to explore deeper waters. Things were hard enough to feel without her girls as a center row audience.  
  
*****  
  
JAM PONY  
8:15 AM  
  
"Late again, why is this not surprising?" Normal began his tirade on Max as soon as she walked in the door. "Your job is not here for convince, otherwise I'd fire you in a heartbeat-" he stopped talking when he saw the manor in which Max came into work. "For the love of Mike what the hell did you do to yourself?" he walked around to where the bike rack and Max stood. "Look at you" he circled her, evaluating her appearance "Don't think you're gonna get special treatment because you got into some street brawl and didn't stumble home in time to find the shower-"  
  
"Ya know all this concern makes me feel so loved Normal" Max interrupted  
  
"Your pouty speeches don't work here missy. You better do your job as half efficient as you usually do or your gonna find yourself unemployed" he looked at the bandage wrapped around her side that had blood tinged around the outside "and for Cripe's Sake put a jacket on your deliveries so you don't look like some street roughy-in looking for a handout"   
  
"Anything else?" Max snapped back after his speech.  
  
Yeah bip bip bip" Normal turned and headed back towards his desk  
  
Max sighed under her breath, and grabbed a bike from the rack suspended to the ceiling  
  
Cree came up on her right side, a paper cup of Jam Pony "coffee" already "With a boss like Normal you'll never need coffee again" she took a sip of the muddy crap in her cup.  
  
Max silently agreed, and dropped a bike from the rack to the ground. She let out a hiss and touched her side from the pain that caused.   
  
"You sure bout this girl?" Cree asked Max in concern "You could just leave, I'll cover for you"  
  
I'm fine" Max reassured, sounding like she was talking to Logan. "Work's gotta be done"  
  
"Shouldn't be at your expense boo" Cindy got in on the act. "Ain't no job worth that much."  
  
Keep it in mind" Max wheeled her bike over to the front to pick up her packages  
  
I'm serious girl" Cindy followed her "Stayin' at work shouldn't be an option if you're hurtin'"  
  
I'm sorry did you start running this place?" Normal interrupted her conversation with Max "Unless your going into cardiac arrest right here in the floor you're able to work"  
  
Cindy looked at him with 'uh huh' look "Tell us when that stick's outta your ass" she shoved some boxes in her bag "Take you out to celebrate the one less thing that's wrong with you"   
  
*****   
  
SECTOR TEN  
  
"Best thing after a long day" Cree handed Max a mug of mint chocolate cocoa she had made from her mom's old recipe, well almost like her mom's she spiked it with some Kaula she found in the pantry.  
  
"Thanks" Max took the mug from her, inhailing the aroma. "Smell's great"  
  
"Sure it's not as good as the stuff Logan makes for you, but when my mom gave it to us it made me and my baby sis happy after we had a shitty day" Cree joined Max on the couch. She had a hint of longing when she talked about her mother.   
  
Max gripped the warm mug in her hand, sipping from it. "Never knew my mother" she tried to connect with Cree on some level about what she was feeling. "Gave me away after I was born." she lied because it was too much to go into how her surrogate mother had her taken away like all the other surrogates at Manticore.  
  
"Defiantly wasn't my mom" Cree wasn't trying to be insulting, she was just making an observation "She loved us till it got embarrassing." she laughed in the back of her throat remembering "Always was the loudest one at the Christmas pageant or my Jit Su competitions. People didn't tell her to be quiet though, guess they got intimidated after they saw the police issue nine millimeter in her holster."   
  
Max turned to her "She must love you a lot"  
  
"Yeah she does" Cree returned with a sad sigh. "When I was younger I was so into boys. I mean I  
loved my mom, but I wanted a boyfriend even more. But now-" a pause "I just want her"  
  
Max put a hand to her shoulder "You'll get your chance"   
  
"Need to get your chance too Max" Cindy stated coming out of her bedroom, dressed to impress in black leather pants and a scarlet red halter top with a top woven layer of black netting, and a golden arm bracelet.  
  
"Damn" Max drew out the words "Someone needs to put you out girl"  
  
Cindy smiled at the compliment "Thanks boo" she looked over to Cree "You ready?"  
  
"Just give me a sec to change my clothes" Cree responded  
  
Max was confused at what was going on "We're goin' somewhere?"  
  
"Ah not exactly" Cree stood up, setting her mug on the coffee table "Cindy's got a hook up with some hot girl she met and she wants me to come in case it turns bad"  
  
Now Max was totally lost "So I'm what? the body guard?"  
  
"No boo" Cindy laid it straight for her "You're gonna be somewhere else"  
  
"Oh" Max sounded intrigued "And where's that?"  
  
"Shacked up at a high rise" Cree answered her question "Can't just stay at home all night, you'd be bored as hell, might as well enjoy the personal time-"  
  
"This is a set up" Max interrupted  
  
"Not callin' it that suga" Cindy said with a smile "More like the perfect mix for a good evening"  
  
"Like I said" Max began "it's a setup" she looked at Cindy and Cree both "I'm wearing' my own clothes"  
  
"Fine with us" Cindy agreed  
  
"Long as it's not too restrictive" Cree threw in  
  
Max sighed to herself /Those two are a dangerous combination/  
  
*****  
  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
9:00 PM  
  
Max leaned against the elevator as it ascended to the pent house. She couldn't believe her girls had actually tricked her into coming here. Not like she minded, she'd been over here dozens of times, hell she slept over here, alone, but all night. But this was different and she knew it.   
  
Her clothes were nothing special, black velvet flair pants and a cotton red long sleeved boat necked shirt with tie sleeves. Her hair was the same as it always was long brown and completely down. She had no makeup except a small hint of mascara and cherry lip gloss. No jewels or diamonds, just her sports watch. Everything was the same, so then why the hell did she feel like she was discovering new ground like the first time she had been asked to a guy's car when she was fifteen and newly escaped from Manticore. The bastard tried to force himself on her, but she just beat the hell outta him and ran.   
  
This wasn't then though. She was 21 years old, she was a woman now, she knew what she wanted. /Maybe that's why I came here, to get what I want/  
  
The elevator dinged and the doors opened. A minute later she was in front of the door. Her hand was poised to knock /What am I doing? I don't knock/ She picked the lock with a bobby pin she found discarded on the floor of the elevator. It swung open.  
  
"Anybody home?" she stepped inside, closing the door.  
  
It took all of two seconds before Logan came out from his computer room. "Max, you need something?"  
  
"No I'm good"  
  
He scrutinized her "Are you okay?"  
  
/Had to think I came over here for a seizure or something/ "I'm fine DAD, can't I just swing by?"  
  
"You know you're always welcome Max" Logan interjected  
  
"Then make me feel like it" she returned  
  
"I'm sorry" Logan stopped the rapid fire remarks "Have you eaten yet?" /Food, food will solve everything. But what if your hungry for more then food?/  
  
"Think we both know the answer to that" Max informed  
  
"I have some leftover black peppercorn chicken, why don't I heat it up?"  
  
"Sound's like a plan" she agreed "Guess I'll set the table" /So far so good/  
  
*****  
  
CRASH  
  
"Think brotha's got the hots for you girl" Angela, Cindy's date pointed at the guy who had been checking Cree out for the better part of an hour.  
  
Turns out Cindy's date was on the level. Brunette, tan, killer green eyes and nice smile. Complimented Cindy up the wazoo about her outfit and her stlye. Cindy seemed to like her the   
same. Angela appeared pretty down to earth, bit of an attitude but nice, a contemporary painter by trade. She kept up convo with Cree, not isolating her because she didn't swing her way.  
  
Cindy looked over at the guy that was looking at Cree. sandy brown hair, tall, brown eyes, leather jacket, almost looked like Max's brother Zack except for the height and the hair color.  
  
"Don't look now hun, but he's commin' over" Angela sipped her wine cooler, pretending not to notice.  
  
"Hi" boy anonymous greeted Cree with a smile "Care to dance?"  
  
"Kinda just chillin'" Cree informed the admirer  
  
"Go for it gurl" Angela interrupted "He's cute"  
  
"Yeah boo" Cindy agreed "No time like the present" she gave her a look that said she had her back in case something bad went down.  
  
"Guess we'll go then" Cree turned to the guy, standing up from her seat.  
  
"Great" he smiled "Bring her right back ladies" he addressed Cindy and Angela.  
  
Cindy watched Cree head out on the floor. Nothing seemed amiss.  
  
"Your girl's cute" Angela informed, her eyes looking at Cree in her black halter and chocolate brown leather pants. "Sure she's not into it half way?"  
  
"Sorry suga" Cindy told her "Cree's not really into much of anything right now, she had a bad rap with guys"  
  
"That's a bitch" Angela agreed "If she were with me I'd never treat her wrong"  
  
"Not treatin' me wrong" Cindy smiled at the woman  
  
Angela smiled back, touching her hand. "Thanks babe, how bout we down these drinks and hit the floor?"  
  
"Aiight" Cindy agreed  
  
"My name's Ty" Cree's dance partner introduced himself after they were on the floor. "Ty Aris"  
  
"Nice name" Cree told him  
  
"Thanks" Ty responded "You got a name?"  
  
"Cree" she told him, her guard still up, but Ty seemed honest to her super analytical standards.  
  
"You got a nice one too"  
  
"Good to know" Cree had to almost shout over the base of the song.  
  
"You live here in Seattle?" Ty asked  
  
"No," Cree told him "I'm just crashin' with friends" "How about you?"  
  
"Yeah in Sector 12. I got assigned here two months ago"  
  
"Assigned?" Cree wondered about that "You a soldier?"  
  
Ty shook his head "Fireman, pretty green, just got out of the academy a week before I came here"  
"You?"  
  
The conversation was flowing well. /We sound like Max and her man, but hopefully there's no talk and Logan's making and honest woman of her/ "I shuttle packages back and forth and back and forth"  
  
"Like a bike messenger?"  
  
"Yeah"   
  
"Cool"  
  
The fast pace of "Sandstorm" died down, and was replaced with an old song, a VERY old song.  
  
"What the fuck is this?" someone shouted from the crowd.  
  
"This is crap."  
  
"Temptations?" Ty looked at Cree. "Damn I haven't heard this in a while"  
  
"Take it off!" the crowd was shouting at the DJ  
  
"I am man!" the DJ shouted back, digging through his CD collection.  
  
"50 if you'll leave it on!" Ty shouted to the DJ  
  
"Deal brotha" the DJ agreed "Let me see the green"  
  
Ty pulled his wallet out of his leather jacket, and took out a fifty waving it in the air.  
  
"Aiight man, the golden oldies stay on for Mr. bling bling" he started the song over  
  
"This is whack"   
  
"Jack ass" people were shouting at Ty and leaving the floor to go get plastered while the song played.  
  
"I love being Mr. Popular" Ty turned to Cree "Bet you wanna leave now huh?"  
  
"Not really" Cree shook her head "I like this song, my mom would play this on Saturday nights trying to put the moves on my dad." she started to sing the opening part of the song.  
  
"Shoo doop Shoo be do, Shoo do Shoo be do,   
Shoo doop shoo be do, Shoo doop Shoo be do  
Shoo doop Shoo be do, Shoo do Shoo be do,   
Shoo doop shoo be do, Shoo doop Shoo be do.."  
  
Ty smiled at her "You're good" he cut in singing the first verse to Cree's vocal background  
"In the still of the night I held you Held you tight   
'Cause I love Love you so Promise i'll never Let you go   
In the still of the night"   
  
His vocals were good, not a complete match to Cree's but nice. He smiled at her again "So does this mean I can get a dance out of you?"  
  
"Might as well" Cree felt her guard drop just ever so slightly, but not completely, she was still who she was after all. Ty took her hand and danced much slower then any of the fast club hoppers.  
Cree still kept her distance thought, remembering Jack, remembering the others  
  
"I remember  
That night in May  
The Stars were bright above  
I'll hope and I'll pray  
To keep  
Your precious love  
Well before the light  
  
****  
  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
  
  
"Checkmate" Max moved her rook to block Logan's king, effectively winning the game.  
  
"Again?" Logan didn't really sound surprised, Max was an expert at strategic games, sadly learned from Manticore. "What's that make it?"  
  
"3 and 0" she told him.  
  
"Maybe I should quit while I still have manhood to spare" Logan told her, stretching./Can't waste manhood on a stupid chess game, man shut up/ He checked his watch "10:02" "It's still early, want some wine?"  
  
"Sure" Max agreed   
  
"Great" Logan stood up and headed over to his wine rack "2000 Rose okay?"  
  
"Fine" Max said, putting the chess pieces back in their original order on the board.   
"Need a hand?" she asked watching him search for a cork remover.  
  
"I got it" Logan told her "Remember, you usually break the cork" he got it off and poured the pinkish drink into two wine glasses.  
  
"Price you pay for being freakishly strong" Max came into the kitchen, startling Logan.  
  
"Your not a freak Max" he recovered quickly, and haded her a glass.  
  
"Should we drink to something?" Max took the glass from him.   
  
"You pick" Logan decided  
  
"Kay, to us then"  
  
Her remark threw him for a loop "I'll drink to that" he spoke up after a minute. Both took a sip of the wine.  
  
"Nice" Max commented on the flavor.  
  
"Price you pay for being a rich white bastard" Logan sipped his drink again.   
  
That made Max smile.   
  
The stereo in the living room began playing the faint sounds of an oldie.  
  
"There's something I haven't heard in forever" Logan went back over to his living room, turning up the song.   
  
"What is it?" Max, being a child of the "pulse generation" and the "Manticore generation" hadn't really heard anything outside of Drowning Pool or Chopin.  
  
"An old song" Logan told her "Like my parent's teenage years. Dad had the song burned onto a CD as a present for mom." he stood up from where he was kneeling.   
  
"Good a good beat" Max commented  
  
"Let's make some use of it then" Logan held out his hand "Dance with me"  
  
Max hesitated for a split second, but took the hand he offered, finding herself being pulled against him.  
  
"In the still of the night"  
  
The soulful music of the Temptations filled the small room as Logan glided Max in unpracticed but still graceful, almost seductive moves.   
  
"Hidden talent?" Max cocked an eyebrow at him and his almost flawless dance moves.  
  
"I'm a jack of all trades" he told her, breaking apart to spin her artfully with one hand.  
  
"So before the light  
Hold me again  
With all of your might  
In the still of the night"  
  
He pulled her close again after his move, his hand low on her back, leading, and she didn't say anything about it.   
  
"I feel like my dad" Logan commented "He use to do this with mom a lot"  
  
"Hope not" Max told him /What am I doin?/  
  
Logan looked at her "why's that?"  
  
"Mean's I couldn't do this" Max reacted on her instinct, woman instinct, not Manticore kill the first thing that moves instinct, and stopped the dance to put one arm on either side of his face and kissed him.  
  
Logan nearly hit the roof when she did that, but he contained himself and returned her gesture, slidding a hand behind her hair.   
  
"In the still of the night.."  
  
*****  
  
JAM PONY  
  
Ty found himself yanked back "Cree?" he was confused  
  
"Stop okay" she pulled back from the kiss he was trying to give her. She turned and left.  
Things were going deeper then she could handle.  
  
"Cree?-" Cindy watched her leave up the stairs.  
  
"What was that about?" Angela looked at Cindy  
  
"Don't know boo, but bout to take care of it" Cindy stepped in Ty's path."Not goin' anywhere boy. Tellin' you now if you laid something nasty on my girl I'm gonna drop a smack down on your ass"  
  
"Relax" Ty tried to calm Cindy "I didn't do anything to her. I just-" pause "Damn I don't know, all I did was try to kiss her, that's it. I swear."  
  
Cindy backed down a bit "Cree's had a string of bad relationships, talkin' real bad, maybe it was more then you made it out to be."  
  
"Think I could talk to her?" Ty asked, after hearing that   
  
"If you can find her suga" Cindy let him know "But if you ever DO try anything you answser to me, and that's a response you don't wanna pick up the phone for"  
  
Ty didn't answer and went in search of the girl he just met.  
  
"Cree wait!" he found her out int the parking lot, going to her car.  
  
She didn't stop "I'm sorry Ty, I have to go"  
  
"Look I'm sorry. I didn't know it would affend you" he stopped a few feet behind her.  
"I'm not a jack ass or nothin' I just-" he stopped "I was starting to like you"  
  
She turned around then. "You like some girl you just met?"  
  
"My parents knew each other for two days before they got married and the've been together for 24 years."  
  
"How old are you?" Cree started giving him 'Q & A'   
  
"Twenty-two" he told her "You're not-"  
  
"I'm eighteen" she told him  
  
"Sorry" he apologized "I just didn't want you to think I'm one of those guys who likes to mess with minors." he looked at her "Can we try again?"  
  
"Try what?" she put on her own leather jacket.  
  
"All that stuff after I tried to kiss you?" he told her. "Please? I'm not Mr. Popular but I'll show you a good time" "Geeze I screwed that up, not what I meant"  
  
"I got a good idea though" she told him.  
  
He stepped closer to her "You wanna just hang out here and talk?" he held up his hand "I'm not trying to put the moves on you, it's just quieter out here, plus for once it's a clear night"  
  
"What if you're lyin'?" Cree was always on alert  
  
"You can kick my ass"  
  
"I have a black belt in Jit Su" she told him  
  
"There ya go" he told her with a smile. "I can also put out my own car fires should it come to that"  
  
She smiled too.  
  
*****  
  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
  
  
"What are we doing?" Max asked breaking apart.  
  
"You wanna stop?" Logan asked her  
  
"Do you?"  
  
"I asked you"  
  
"You want me cause I'm a good screw?" she went for blundt. She had been wanted too many times for just her body. She needed to know.  
  
"No" Logan told her" I want you because you're a beautiful woman, and my best friend and I'd be honored to make love to someone like that."  
  
"Make love? What are you a woman?" Max threw in her attitude. The conversation wouldn't be complete without out it.  
  
"I can assure you that I'm not" Logan told her  
  
Max looked at him, gauging, judging. One hand touched the side of his face "Then assure me"  
  
He grabbed the hand on his face "You sure, cause there's no going back"  
  
"Last thing I was more sure of was busting out of Manticore"  
  
He took that as a 'yes' and pulled her hand of the side of his face and kissed it, then her.  
  
Her hands raked through the back of his hair, and she drew the kiss deeper. She felt his hands sliding under her shirt, roaming over bare skin and the back of her lingere.  
  
"Ooo I don't want no, I don't need, I can't stand no minute man  
I don't want no minute man.  
Ooo here's your chance, be a man, take my hand, understand, I don't want no minute man"   
  
The room suddenly got hotter, Max felt flushed, but this was much better then a seizure.   
/Da-am/ she felt him kissing her neck, and she tilted her neck to allow him better access.  
  
"How about now?" he asked  
  
"Don't you dare or I'll kick your ass" she answered his question about stopping.  
  
"Boy I'm going to make you love me, make you want me,   
and I'll give you some attention today  
Follow my intuition, whatcha wishin'   
So I'm gonna keep you up all night, long time  
  
He kept kissing her, roaming under her t-shirt, trying to back her up enough to reach the door knob to his bedroom.  
  
"You could just ask" she told him  
  
"Okay" he agreed "You wanna go to my room?" he hoped he didn't sound like a teenager on his first time, but like a man with some expierence.  
  
"Kay" she told him, in-between what they were doing to each other.  
  
"Break me off, show me what you got  
Cause I don't want no one minute man  
Break me off cause I don't want no minute man.  
  
He finally got his door open and the pair stumbled onto the king size bed in semi darkness  
  
*****  
  
Break me off, show me whatcha got.."  
  
Ty touched Cree again, only this time she didn't back off.  
  
"Ready to try this again?"  
  
She didn't say anything, but allowed him to kiss her, softly, quietly on the hood of her car.  
  
*****  
  
"Cause I don't want no one minute man"   
  
The room was dark, but Max's cat eyes could see him, and even without the transgenic equipment she could feel him on her in her, taking her off the world and back again.  
  
His name came to her, loud, hard, and then nothing, a quiet moment of sedation.  
  
/Damn, the guys are gonna know how I "am" in the morning. Oh well, who cares, not like they weren't expecting it."/  
  
She felt him touch her again, not with longing, not much, but an act of feeling. She laid against him, feeling him breathe.  
  
****  
  
there ya go..M/L play for all..Cree had some too..not like that but I wanted her to have something to make her face her fear of men (meaning a man who likes her). So Ty will come back.  
  
I got the idea to put the Temptations Song in here, cause I recently burned it on a CD,and remembered how much I love them.  
  
R/R please. 


	20. Take a Chance

Chapter 20: Take a Chance   
  
A/N: Thanks to all the reviwers..I had a history test this week that I've been studying for for about five days now..think I deserve a break. Lots will happen here, M/L will have that "morning after" thing. Sorry, no pillow talk, I'm not a romance novelist. Ty is here too, the inspiration for him was taken from the carpenter Ty Pettington of the TLC's show "Trading Spaces" Let's face it, he's hot, and hilarious, so this is my homage to him. Ming and Cree, don't know if they will meet up in this chapter, I have to see how it plays out. Like I said I need a reason for the reunion to be there, it will off set the mood otherwise. But if it's not here it'll defiantly be in the next. I want them back together just as bad as everyone else.   
  
*****   
  
SECTOR 10  
8:35 AM  
THE NEXT MORNING  
  
"You met up with your hot boy outside Crash?" Cindy talked to Cree, sitting at the table with her.  
  
Cree turned to her "Must be hot if you give him props" she wasn't like Max in the hiding relationship thing. "But he's not my boy" she was like her about that though. "It was a three hour shack up"  
  
"You know his name and job?" Cindy asked  
  
"It's Ty, and he's a fireman" Cree answered back  
  
"Then suga I'd say he's on the way to bein' your boy" Cindy leaned back in her chair. "Fireman huh? Nice to have a man who knows what to do when things get hot"  
  
Cree didn't answer and sipped her coffee. "Speaking of things gettin' hot" a smile formed on her face "Max didn't come home last night"  
  
Cindy smiled too, she held up her coffee mug "Here's to our girl for finally takin' it up a notch"  
  
"True that" Cree agreed. "How long we gonna wait till we ask bout it?"  
  
"How many seconds in a minute?" Cindy returned  
  
*****   
  
FOGGLE TOWERS   
  
Logan was still asleep after Max came out of the bathroom. Which was good, since she had a smile on her face that Lydecker couldn't even slap off. She had kidded Logan on his "making love" remark, but honestly that's what it was. She had had sex before this, countless times because of her damn heat cycles. But this is the first time she was with a guy who gave a damn about her needs. Logan wasn't all gushy and cooey last night, but he did try to satisfy her, ask her what she liked. And as for the sex part of the "making love" it wasn't up to porn status, but she wouldn't need her morning cup of coffee if she could get that beforehand.   
  
She smiled at him, he looked like a little boy /defiantly NOT a boy though, all man/ She didn't know whether to kiss him like his long time lover or resort to her old ways.  
  
"Hey sleeping beauty" she settled on her old ways, hitting him with a pillow "It's a new day"  
  
"Can't believe you're up this early," Logan told her after he woke up.  
  
Max shrugged "Comes with being a revved up soldier"  
  
Logan sat up, grabbing his glasses off the end table and put them on. "Can't tell me what went on last night was a product of Manticore."  
  
"No that was defiantly me" Max agreed  
  
"Thank God" he used a familiar line, one of the first ones used when he met her.  
  
"So-"   
  
"So-" they shared a small laugh at the way their words tripped on each other.  
  
"Not gonna go into that 'about last night speech' are ya?" Max was the first one to ask.   
  
"Wasn't planning on it" Logan told her "I think we both can agree we know "about last night""  
  
"So no regrets?"   
  
Logan looked at her "Defiantly, why are you-"  
  
"No" she interrupted "Just my old ways talkin' I had no regrets with Darren and he blew me off later, but said it was a 'fun time while it lasted"  
  
"Max, Darren was-"  
  
"A dick" Max finished for him  
  
"Remember you said it first," Logan stated, he leaned forward to kiss her, assuming the right since she let him do more last night. Thankfully she agreed, and didn't pull away.  
  
The kiss was short, but nice. "Everyone's gonna know, we just probably settled a few bets"  
  
"Hey I'm not complaining" Logan informed. He kissed her again, deeper cupping her face with one hand.  
  
"I gotta go to work ya know" she told him, pulling apart  
  
"I know" Logan told her "But I can at least give you a good send off"  
  
*****   
  
LOS ANGELOS, CALIFORNIA   
  
"Hey Amston" One of the fellow female officers in the precinct called out to Ming from her desk, which she happened to be passing by. The other officer held up the phone on Ming's desk "Your lines ringing"  
  
"Thanks" Ming answered back, straightening out her jacket, having just come out of the locker room. She picked up the black receiver unit.  
  
"Amston here"  
  
"It's me mom" Jade answered from the other end  
  
"Hey baby, what's up?" Ming greeted her daughter "Is there a problem?"  
  
"No not really" Jade answered, "I just need you to give me a ride home today"  
  
"What's wrong with the bus?"  
  
"My drivers sick and the replacements a psycho mom, you could write up a whole file on him. He's already caused three accidents, no one will fire him though cause he's a friend of one of the transportation directors-"  
  
"Okay girl I'm convinced" Ming interrupted "I'll meet you at 3:20 out front"  
  
"Thanks" Jade responded  
  
"Gonna have to be in my squad ride though hun, I have to head back to work right after we swing home"  
  
"Fine" Jade agreed, "I'll be the buzz of every one on Monday morning because of it"  
  
"So 3:20, no later aiight?"  
  
"Mom know one says aiight anymore"  
  
"I do" Ming told her "You gonna argue with a woman carrying a 22?"  
  
Jade smiled "I'll see you after classes"  
  
"Love ya baby"  
  
"You too mom" she hung up  
  
Ming hung up on her end. She saw her partner heading in with a cup of coffee "ready for action?"  
  
"Soon as you get it in gear Ming" Dalton told her.  
  
"I'm ready now," she informed, heading out. As she passed an open file cabinet she spilled over a file that was resting on top.  
  
Ming bent down to pick it up, and noticed what was on the record. It was the hot car that had been reported a week ago.  
  
Addendum: Juvenile J. Warren suspected of stripping the 99 Pontiac Firebird, and changing plates, car last seen around by locals at a chop shop near Seattle, Washington.   
  
"Hey girl let's go" Dalton called out to Ming  
  
Ming stood up with the file "I have to check something first"  
  
*****   
  
SEATTLE  
SEATTLE CITY FIREHOUSE  
LADDER 12  
  
"Ty think fast!" Kenny, one of the other firemen, threw a football to his friend who was outside cleaning up some of the loose hoses as per his fire chief's instructions.  
  
Ty dropped the hose, but caught the ball. "Man, I just got that straight"  
  
"I'm sorry to upset your homemaker schedule" Kenny teased in response to which Ty threw the ball back at his head.  
  
Kenny caught it "This one's gonna have some umph" he backed up "Go long"  
  
Ty went as far as the garage door to the entrance of the firehouse. Kenny's aim was off set and the ball veered off to the right.  
  
However, the ball didn't hit the ground. It was caught in the hands of someone. 5'4, black hair, brown eyes. Biker cut off pants and black tank top.   
  
"Nice catch" Ty looked at the girl he met the other night.   
  
"Say the same thing man" Kenny stated to Ty looking at Cree.  
  
Ty shot him a death glare, before turning back around to face Cree. "You on your way to your job?"  
  
"Something like that" Cree agreed, checking her watch "I've only got about two minutes before my boss starts bippin' it"  
  
"Bippin?" Ty was confused  
  
"You have to work there to know my pain" Cree informed him. "So this is your station?" she looked around the outside of the firehouse.  
  
"Ladder Twelve" Ty agreed, "Want the grand tour?"  
  
Cree checked her watch again "Gotta be the 60 second speed tour"  
  
"Okay" Ty answered, clapping his hands together "This is the driveway-" he started pointing things out "fire trucks, hoses, Kenny" Ty pointed out his friend still standing in the driveway.  
  
"Hey" Kenny said in return.  
  
Cree did a wave back in response   
  
"And this is the inside" Ty informed once they got there "I would show you more, but I'm on this tight schedule-"  
  
"Speaking of which I gotta go" Cree broke in.  
  
"Okay then, give me a call?"  
  
"I don't have your number remember"  
  
Ty looked confused "I didn't give it to you last night? Hold up for a sec then" he snatched some scrap paper and a crayon from one of the safety coloring packets that they handed out to kids and wrote the number down "Here, you're outta excuses now"  
  
"What if I said I thought you were an SOB?" Cree asked  
  
"Okay that would be an excuse" Ty answered "But you don't right?"  
  
"I don't know you enough to make that call"  
  
"There ya go" he held out the paper  
  
She took it "Kay I really need to head out. My boss is a pain, but so is no money"   
  
"So that means you'll call?" Ty sounded hopeful  
  
"Pretty sure that's a safe bet," she agreed  
  
*****   
  
JAM PONY  
  
The minute Max came through the entranceway, Cindy jumped her "Sup boo? I didn't hear ya come in last night"  
  
"I was really quiet," Max lied, heading over to her locker.  
  
"Not even you could be that quiet Max" Cindy told her. "It's obvious what went down between you and your boy last night, and it wasn't chess-"  
  
"We played chess" Max interjected.  
  
"Yeah before-"  
  
"I got my thing put down" Max finished for her "That's what you were gonna say right?"  
  
"Gonna say banged the gong" Cindy told her with a smile Does this mean it's confirmed now?"  
  
"Maybe" Max answered with an almost non descript look, almost.   
  
"All I can say is bout time boo" Cindy smiled again. "We'll hit Crash tonight to celebrate ya commin' out. And bring ya boy"  
  
"Kay" Max agreed  
  
Cindy looked dumbfounded "Didn't deny anything this time. You and him musta done some deep connectin' "  
  
"Apparently there's a problem by the way your brain connects to the rest of you" Normal cut in on their conversation "Slacker's don't stay long in this department" he turned away from the two women, gazing out into the crowd of his employees "And where did Cree run away too huh? I'm gonna stop hiring these people if they don't WORK"  
  
Just as Normal got in the hard emphasis on the word "work" during his tirade Cree appeared walking through the entrance way.  
  
"Look who decided to roll out of bed and not get fired"  
  
Cree ignored him, picking up a package from the stack on his desk "34 Industry, better get on it, bip bip bip" she said this all in one breath and shoved the box in her bag walking away in a hurry.  
  
Normal for his part, just looked mad at his own words coming back to bite him in the ass "Sarcasm is not part of the work ethic missy"  
  
"Gotta give me some skin on that boo" Cindy held out her hand, and Cree hit it in a 'low five' position. "Made it a little less anal in here"   
  
"I try" Cree agreed. She looked towards Max "Think I can throw out a good guess as to what the convos been about over here" she paused "Glad for you Max, least one of us is gettin' lucky"  
  
"Girl you got some luck with that boy you done hooked up with at Crash" Cindy told Cree straight out.  
  
Max turned to Cree "He got a name?" she smiled, for once the tables were turned.  
  
"He's just this fireman I met last night" Cree informed   
  
"And his name is-" Max kept up the question  
  
"Ty" Cree gave her an answer   
  
"Ty" Max tested out the name, "Nice, why don't you bring him along tonight so I'm not the only one feelin' awkward"  
  
"Max I barely know him" Cree informed  
  
"Don't matter boo" Cindy jumped in "Max barely knew Logan the first time she met him and look what went down" she paused "Did he give you a connection?"  
  
"Yeah, he gave me his home number at the fire house" Cree answered her question  
  
"So call him" Cindy broke in.   
  
Cree sighed "Things always seem to come back and bite me in the ass"  
  
Cindy smiled at that "Cept this time it's good"  
  
*****   
  
LAPD  
45TH PRECINCT  
  
"Why the hell did you feel like I couldn't be in the loop on this?" Ming was a raged wild cat of emotions, demanding answers from her superior  
  
"Under the circumstances Officer Amston-" the detective began "I didn't want to get your hopes up if it didn't go anywhere"  
  
Ming stopped her feverish pacing and stood dead center behind her boss's desk "Only I have the right to decide if my hopes get up. My daughter has been missing for three years. Now maybe you think I'm crazy, but as her mother, I just have a feeling on this-"  
  
"Ming" the detective addressed her by her first name for a softer, more personal approach "I don't want to tell you not to hope, but you know that the chances of finding a kidnapped victim alive diminishes as more time goes on-"  
  
"I know that Sir" Ming broke in. "I've read the reports, hell I've seen it with that man who raped all those homeless girls last year, but this is my baby we're talking about, and with all due respect Sir, for all your knowledge and experience with the 45, you don't know what's it's like to be a mother. I brought her into this world, I sure as hell would feel something if she was taken out, and I don't. All I got is this pain cause she's missing, but I know she's still alive-"  
  
"Your knowledge is based on your emotions" he told her "Now I'm sorry, but you've been through something terrible, and every parent always wants to believe their kid is still alive even if they're not, it's what keeps them going"   
  
"It is" Ming agreed, gathering up the file she had picked up from the floor "I'd like your permission for some leave to go to Seattle-"  
  
"Ming" the det. cut in  
  
"I can get a flight out tonight and be back by Tuesday-"  
  
"I don't think it's a good idea, you can't just go waltzing around doing police work in other states, your not FBI, you have no jurisdiction outside of LA-"  
  
"I'm a mother det." Ming snapped back "Gives me jurisdiction to do whatever the hell I have to for my child." She paused "Now I'm going to Seattle with or without you're permission Sir. I don't want to loose my job over this, but I didn't want to loose Cree three years ago, and frankly she's more important. So you either give me your blessing, or I'll make this my resignation, its your call, but either way you can't stop me"  
  
Her boss sighed, looking up to his officer "Go, do what you have to, but keep your head above water Ming. You're her mother, but you're also a cop, remember that"  
  
"Thank you Sir" Ming addressed him formally.  
  
"Good luck" he finished  
  
*****   
  
Hey, yeah ya know what?  
I like the players  
No Diggity, No doubt  
Play on play that  
Play on play that  
Yo Dre drop the verse  
  
*****  
  
SECTOR 10   
LATER THAT NIGHT  
  
Cindy stood in front of the small bathroom mirror, adding some deep plum colored eye shadow to her lids, after which she rolled on some all day waterproof curl mascara.  
  
[Dr. Dre]  
It's going down fad to Blackstreet  
The homeys got abby collab creations Funk like acne  
No doubt I put it down never slouch  
As long as my credit could vouch  
A dog couldn't catch me, *ass* out  
Tell me who could stop with Dre makin' moves  
Attracting honeys like a magnet  
Giving them ig-asms with my mellow accent  
Still moving his flavor with the homeys Blackstreet & Teddy  
The original rump shakers  
  
Tonight was a celebration, both her girls got shacked up with something sweet, good for Cree and about damn time for Max. Cindy checked her reflection in the mirror, she wanted to pull out the stops. Angela was out, she had a deal in Chicago, but Cindy was a big girl, she could bounce back. She checked herself out, her eyes were basically smokin' went well with the reddish plum lipstick she was putting on.   
  
"Mind if I borrow some liner?" Cree stepped into the tiny bathroom.  
  
"Sure boo" Cindy finished using the pencil and set turned to hand it to Cree. "You're looking sweet tonight baby girl" Cindy checked Cree out who was wearing a burnt orange halter top, and black leather skirt with thigh high black leather boots. She pulled her hair into a loose upsweep, some loose tendrils falling around her shoulders. The cut of the top gave ample view of her black dragon tattoo.  
  
Cree put on the liner around her pomegranate colored lips while Cindy kept checking her out. "Didn't know any better, I'd say you were dressin' to impress a certain fireman you met"  
  
"Wouldn't say that" Cree argued, handing Cindy back her makeup. "Not gonna put on an act, he has to like me for who I am" she turned to face Cindy "But no harm in cleanin' up nice"  
  
"Defiantly" Cindy agreed, she checked her watch "Should get goin'"  
  
"Where's Max?" Cree asked as they exited the bathroom.  
  
"Girl's never ready on time" Cindy told her "And she don't even need to primp that much" Cindy headed over to her room "Yo Max, girl we gotta move it out or we're gonna be late-" she pushed the door open to her friend's room.  
  
"My my my" Cindy repeated for the second time in a week  
  
[Teddy Riley]  
Shorty get down, good Lord  
Baby got 'em open all over town  
Strickly biz she don't play around  
Cover much grounds  
Got game by the pound  
Gettin paid is her forte  
Each and every day true player way  
I can't get her outta my mind  
I think about the girl all the time  
  
"Look okay?" Max stood up straight from lacing up her boot.  
  
"Suga you are somethin' to behold" Cindy told her.   
  
Max beat out her friends in the leather department with black leather lace up flair pants and a black leather halter-esque style tank top in that it had a back strap around her neck that effectively covered up her barcode, but the straps came around down her across the edge of her shoulders with a deep U cut neck line. The back was dipped halfway down her back with criss cross lace ups. She pulled her hair up in a ponytail held together by a black clip. Her makeup was the same as it always was lip-gloss, mascara, but this she used a little red lip liner.  
  
"Da-am" Cree drew out the words "Girl you're hot, Logan's gonna get a present tonight."  
  
"Don't look so bad yourself" Max complimented on Cree.  
  
"Kay ladies" Cindy interrupted "Should head out"  
  
Cree snatched up "her" car keys "Max is gonna look hot ridin' her cycle in that"  
  
*****   
East side to the West Side  
Push your fat rides it's no surprise  
She got tricks in the stash  
Stacking up the cash  
Fast when it comes to the gas  
  
*****  
  
SECTOR 12  
  
"You gonna get laid tonight man?" Justin, Ty's roommate watched his friend add some gel to his sandy blonde semi long hair.  
  
"No man" Ty turned to him "I'm just meeting up with that girl I met last night, some of her friends too"  
  
"Whoo" Justin hooted at him "You dawg playa"  
  
Ty threw a cushion at him on his leather chair in his bedroom "Man shut up" he put on his black Fossil sport's watch, and pulled on a leather jacket over his rust navy blue v-neck sweater, that showed a bit of the under shirt he wore underneath. His brown oxfords stomped on the floor as he snatched up his car keys from the bedside table. "I'm goin' now"  
  
"I won't wait up for you honey" Justin teased  
  
Ty smacked him upside the head "Get some new hobbies"  
  
*****   
  
By no means average  
She's on when she's got to have it  
Baby your a perfect 10, I wanna get in  
Can I get down so I can win   
  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
  
Logan killed the lights in his bedroom, snatching up his leather jacket off the back of one of his mahogany chairs. He turned off the music he was listening too, cutting off the modern symphony with rich undertones by stopping the CD. He checked his stove, and appliances in the kitchen. The area still smelled like Max, the cherry essence she always wore. A smile spread across his face at all that had transpired between them in the last few days. He knew he had feelings for her before they had sex. Moving to the next level took a long time, but when it came it was the best thing to happen to him in a long while.  
  
Max didn't have to worry, he wanted her for more then her body. She was beautiful, yes, okay hot, but she was also witty, smart, she was his best friend.  
  
Max had asked him out to Crash with Cindy and Cree tonight, and going out with her beat the hell outta working.   
  
He turned off the lights in his office, snatching up his Aztec keys along the way. Once outside he locked the door, stopping to see Mrs. Moreno, his neighbor, heading to a friend of her who lived in the same building.   
  
"Good evening Mrs. Moreno" Logan addressed her politely.  
  
The older woman turned at the sound of his voice. "Why hello there Mr. Cale, going out I see?"  
  
"Yes ma'am I am" he responded  
  
She smiled "It's good to see a nice young man like you finally get out more. You spend too much time working." Her eyes were wise "I dare say it's a woman who's dragged you out of your solitude."   
  
"You're right about that," Logan agreed. He rang the bell for the woman since her arms were full of groceries. "You have a good evening Mrs. Moreno"  
  
"You as well Mr. Cale" she smiled at him again as he headed towards the elevator.  
  
*****   
  
I like the way you work it (no diggity)  
I got to bag it up  
I like the way you work it (no diggity)  
I got to bag it up (bag it up girl)  
I like the way you work it (no diggity)  
I got to bag it up (bag it up)  
I like the way you work it (no diggity)  
I got to bag it up  
  
CRASH  
  
Max lead the way with her friends, by passing the crowd, and heading towards their usual room in back.  
  
"Go get our pitcher" Cindy informed, heading over to the bar.  
  
"Kay girl" Max told her, sliding into a seat.  
  
A minute or two later, Logan came down the stairs that lead to the back room, spotting Max at one of the circular tables.   
  
[Blackstreet]  
She's got class and style  
Street knowledge, buy the pound  
Baby never act wild, very low key on the profile  
Catching villians is a no  
Let me tell you how it goes  
Curve's the word, spin's the verb  
Lovers it curves so freak what you heard  
  
"Hey" Max greeted him when she heard him come up   
  
"Hey" he returned, Logan wasn't sure what to do as far as affection. He had slept with her, but one night didn't make them lovers. He pressed his luck though, and kissed her, soft and quiet on her mouth.  
  
To his relief, she didn't pull away, and returned it.  
  
"What I'm talkin' bout" Cindy came back with their drinks, making Logan pull apart, but not like he did something wrong, more like he got interrupted. "Park it boy" Cindy set the pitcher of beer on the table.   
  
"Logan"   
  
Cindy calling his name made him turn to her "I'm glad you finally quit beatin' round the bush with my girl and just did somethin' bout it, I close to give you a verbal smack down"  
  
"Glad I acted when I did then" Logan said, producing a smile outta Cindy. He was now sitting in the chair beside Max.  
  
"You and me both boo" Cindy agreed. "Here's to the consummate"   
  
Max held up her glass "Feelin' the love" she looked at Logan  
  
"Oh yeah, I'm feelin' it" he agreed.  
  
"So where's mystery boy?" Max asked Cree  
  
"Got me" Cree answered back "Told him when to meet up, the rest is up to him" she wasn't going to push it with Ty. If he wanted something from her he'd hafta start it, she needed to know he was a man of his word.  
  
*****   
  
OUTSIDE CRASH  
  
Hey, yeah yeah hey, yea-ah  
Ooo, ohh,  
Talk to me yeah,  
Whatta man, whatta man, whatta man  
Whatta might good man  
(Sing it again now)  
Whatta man whatta man whatta mighty good man  
  
Ty pulled up to Crash in is 68 Coup DeVille . What Justin referred to as the "pimp car" But Ty didn't bling bling it out with wide spokes or animal print seats. He just got it retouched in candy apple red and had a better sound system installed. Fireman weren't made of money. Besides he'd feel stupid. A white guy tryin' to act like a ghetto thug.  
  
I wanna take a minute or two to give much respect to  
To the man whose made a difference in my world  
And though most men are holy keep it on the down low,  
But I never heard about him with anther girl  
  
But I don't sweat it, cause it's just pathetic to let it,  
Keep me involved with all that 'he said she said' crap,  
I know ain't no body worth it, I give props to those who deserve it,  
And believe me ya'll he's worth it,  
So here's to the people cause we got through the past I finally found somebody who could make me laugh  
You so craz-ey, I think I wanna have your baby  
(oww)  
  
Whatta man whatta man what a mighty good man  
(a mighty mighty good man)  
Whatta man whatta man what a mighty good man)  
  
He parked and headed over to the bar. It wasn't anything posh, but it looked decent enough. He spotted Cree's car next to a nice looking Ninja motorcycle.  
  
He followed her directions about finding her in the back room, and started to look for her.  
  
"Boo" the voice of the woman with her the other night called out to him.  
  
Ty followed the sound, and found the group.  
  
He saw Cree sitting next to her friend from the other night, and an attractive looking Hispanic woman next to what he presumed was her boy friend or husband.  
  
"Glad you could make it" Cree smiled at him "This is Ty" she introduced the people with her to him "Cindy, Max and Logan"  
  
"Hey" Max greeted him  
  
"Hey yourself" Ty answered back "Hope you don't mind my joining you"  
  
"Not a problem" Logan told him.   
  
Ty sat in the seat Cindy vacated for him.   
  
"So you're a fireman?" Max started up conversation   
  
"Yeah" Ty agreed "My first year" he poured himself a pitcher, and removed his leather jacket to hang it on the back of the chair. "Ladder 12"  
  
"Really?" Logan questioned, "My Uncle Jonas was there"  
  
"Cool" Ty stated "a chief?"  
  
"No" Logan shook his head "He funded it"  
  
"Oh" Ty said, "Must've been rich"  
  
"He was" Logan agreed  
  
"Rich white bastard" Max added her two cents. She hated Uncle Jonas. If the man had called Logan "Junior" just once more she would've pounded his ass.  
  
Logan clarified Max's remark "My family has a lot of money, but not a lot of charm. Uncle Jonas was kind of a bigot"   
  
"Sorry" Ty said  
  
Logan shrugged "Not a big deal" he sipped his drink.  
  
"Cool tattoo" Ty dipped his head back to look at Cree's shoulder  
  
"Thanks" she said "Kinda my rebel stage"  
  
"Mine involved arson" Ty told her, watching the stunned look form on her face "Me and my kid brother set a bird house on fire. Decided to be a fireman after that, couldn't get feeling of achievement of putting it out out of my mind"  
  
"My sister tried to have a camp out once in the back yard" Cree told him "Almost set the whole yard on fire, gave my mom such a ride since she had to call in some friends"  
  
"She's a fireman-er woman?"  
  
"No" Cree answered "A cop"  
  
"Seriously?" Ty sounded impressed "That's cool. Bet it's nice to hang with her"  
  
His remark struck a cord with Cree. "Yeah it is"  
  
When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me,  
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be  
And in my h our of darkness, she is standing right in front of me,   
Speaking words of wisdom,  
Let it be  
  
Let it be  
Let it be  
Let it be, let it be  
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be  
  
*****   
  
LA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT  
  
"I'll be back as soon as I can" Ming pulled her pack on her shoulder.  
  
"We'll be fine" Jade reassured, speaking for her and Peter. She hugged her mom. "Just go do what you said"  
  
Ming kissed her "I'll do my damndest" she looked towards her husband "I have to do this Peter, I have to see if I'm right"  
  
"I know" Peter answered, looking her right in the eye. "It's worth it" he hugged her.  
  
She hugged him back, and kissed him.  
  
"If you don't find her," he whispered this to her "Don't give up"  
  
"You know me" she made him laugh at her remark.  
  
"Final boarding for flight 34 to Seattle" came the FAA announcer over the intercom.  
  
"Gotta go guys"   
  
"We love you"  
  
"Me too" Ming called out, heading over to the boarding zone.  
  
And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree,   
There will be an answer, let it be  
And thought there may be heartache,   
There is still a chance that they will see,  
There will be an answer, let it be  
  
Let it be  
Let it be   
Let it be, yeah Let it be  
Yeah there will an answer, let it be  
  
Let it be,let it be let it be  
Whisper words of wisdom  
Let it be  
  
Ming found her seat after next to the window, and sat down. The flight attendant came around to check on her. "Can I get you anything Mrs-"  
  
"*Officer* Amston " Ming corrected her, showing her her badge. "I'm fine thank you"  
  
The attendant smiled "Alright Officer, please fasten your seatbelt" she left to check on other passengers.  
  
"Ladies and gentleman" the captain came on the intercom "The crew of American Air welcomes you to this non stop flight from LA International to Seattle, Please fasten your seat belts and regard the no smoking signs. Do not operate electronic devices until we are air born. Thank you and enjoy your flight"  
  
Ming started out the window, watching the plane take off. She had no idea if this was a sound lead, but, she didn't know, she had to go, she didn't want to give up just yet.   
  
Your always in my head  
You're like a cool breeze, on a summer's day  
You're a river, running through a desert plane  
  
You are my shelter from the pouring rain,  
You are my comfort even before my pain..  
  
I am but a vessel, so I sing, because you are in my head,  
  
You're always in my head  
In my dreams  
You're always in my head...  
  
*****  
  
End  
  
Next time guys, Cree will meet up with her mother. I tried, but it didn't fit here. Sorry. But DEFIANTLY next one. I got a LOT of coffee in my system and it gave me inspiration to finish this chapter. I had to est. the reason Ming went in search of Cree, she had to have some lead, not just go all over the US of A lookin' for her.  
  
Don't know when this story will end, maybe in about fiveish more chaps, might even do a sequal..  
  
Before I go, the songs used in this chapter in order are:  
  
(everyone getting ready scene)  
"No Diggity" Blacksteet featuring Dr. Dre and Queen Pen  
  
(The CD Logan was listening too before leaving for Crash, had no lyrics, but it was mentioned):   
"On an American Spiritual" David Holsinger  
  
(Ty coming into Crash)  
"Whatta Man" Salt-N-Peppa  
  
(Ming boarding the plane)  
"Let it be" John Lennon  
  
(Ming looking out the window)  
"Always in my Head" India Arie  
  
R/R please 


	21. Someone Has Your Back

Chapter 21 Somebody Has Your Back  
  
A/N: Here is a long chapter...yay! Heh, my story is now officially old enough to drink....*cough* okay, anywayz...this is it. After everyone's patience and the people clawing at their computers saying "NO! MORE!" Cree will be reunited with her mother. It won't happen first thing, it'll build, and when it does, it'll knock your emotional socks off. My usual incorporation of music will be in here too, I spent a few days listening to my CD's and cassettes (didn't know they still made those huh?) and the radio trying to find the right background song for the reunion.  
  
A/N #2: I know that Max and Logan didn't have an "I love you" thing b4 they hit it, but I think Max would want to feel first, cause that's who she is, and then after Logan told her he loved her she would get the full effect, akin to Borrowed Time. They didn't say it until the heart breaker at the end. But not to worry, you will all have your cake here.  
  
*****   
  
SEATTLE  
LANDINGS HOTEL  
ROOM 32  
SECTOR 14  
8: 55 PM  
THE NEXT NIGHT  
  
Ming grabbed the first thing that she found on top of her suitcase, which was a pair of dark denim jeans, and a black sweater. She shoved her badge in her back pocket. She had to leave her issued 9 millimeter in LA because she wasn't on official police business, but she had a small sheath strapped to her ankle which held a silver handled switch blade. She wasn't about to leave all her weapons at home. She knew what the streets could be like.  
  
She clipped her cell phone to one of her belt loops and her Motorola beeper another. Grabbing her silver Oakley's off the small green hotel night table she headed out of her room. Once out on the street, she started looking around. She had decided her best bet to finding out about this chop shop Jack had dumped that car at was to ask some of the "locals" on the street. Going to the police would take too much time, and the people out here were more inclined to tell her more, especially if they though she was interested.   
  
The homeless of Seattle were alive, roaming around, asking for change from the pedestrians and cyclists who were heading through the sector stops.  
  
Ming looked ahead of her /Damn/ She would need a sector pass to get through the checkpoint. Her police officer status wouldn't hold up in this city. She looked around the road leading up to the sector stop, finding several people for what she needed, hawking phony passes. This being the 21st century they could scan a small picture she had on her to the pass in about twenty minutes. She knew, she busted some people doing it on Hollywood Blvd.  
  
Ming veered off her course on the road, heading over to a tall man, wearing a black bomber jacket and red bandana. The guy was in his 20s, considerably younger then Ming, but she caught him looking at her, she was still a woman, and still attractive.  
  
"Help you with somethin' suga?"  
  
"I'm not your suga" Ming set him straight to keep him focused "You into identification?"  
  
The guy looked in both directions, to make sure they were no cops around, at least to his knowledge "Yeah honey I'm a one stop. Whatcha need? I got drivers licence, green cards-"  
  
"I need a sector pass" Ming cut to the chase.  
  
"You got a photo?"  
  
Ming answered him by pulling out a picture of her and her daughters taken a few years ago, but her image looked the same. "What do you want for it?"  
  
"How much you got?"  
  
"Not what I asked" Ming was forever a cop  
  
"45" he told her "Cash money"  
  
"Give you thirty" Ming showed him the twenty and ten dollar bill "You know twenty's the going rate" she ratted out his plans "Sure you won't find a better cut, bet you're not getting your money's worth on the other sales anyway"   
  
"Fine" the man agreed with a sigh, money was money. He took the picture from her. "Give me a name, fake, alias, your aunties I don't care"  
  
"Michelle Ling" Ming gave him a phony name off the top of her head, this was probably gonna get traced, and she had enough to deal with.  
  
Three minutes later she had her pass, still hot from the scan. "Welcome to the sector life Ling"   
  
Ming took the pass from him.   
  
"You sure that's all you need?"  
  
Ming blew him off "Get off it" she headed back out on the street.  
  
She was waved through the sector point without incident. Mainly because there was a line behind her about as long as the Great Wall of China, and the sector cops wanted to get done early like anyone else.  
  
She walked through the streets, looking around the area. A dark haired woman looked over at her from the side of the road where she was standing with an old shopping cart full of blankets and second hand pillows. She noticed Ming immediately, and called out to her   
  
(Spoken in Taiwanese) "You buy a blanket?"   
  
(woman continues to speak in Tawainese throughout rest of converstation)  
  
Now Ming's parents were from mainland China, and as a little girl she had been taught to speak Mandarin Chinese, not Taiwanese, but her grandmother had been from Taiwan, and use to tutor her granddaughter in the other Chinese language after she came to the states. She wanted Ming to learn about all aspects of her family.  
  
"Not today" Ming answered the woman in Taiwanese, looking over at the small stack of hand woven blankets. "You know a place where they sell cheap car parts?" she hadn't spoken this language since she was ten, and her sentences were choppy, mixing Mandarin words with Taiwanese. She only hoped the woman could understand her.  
  
"Cheap?" The lady scrutinized her "You here for a bust?"  
  
"No" Ming held up her hand "I don't have any money for a good carburetor, I just want to get a good deal" she tried to quell the woman's fear that she was with the sector cops waiting to throw people in jail.  
  
The woman still looked at her uneasy, but with a slight hint of giving in. "Sector 12, old market warehouse" she kept glancing up and down the road to make sure no cops heard her. "Toris Street  
They give you cheap, ask no questions, most of stuff is hot"  
  
"I understand" Ming reassured her "Toris you said?"  
  
"Yes"  
  
Ming thanked her and headed out on foot to Sector 12.  
  
*****   
  
SECTOR 12  
TORIS STREET  
  
Ming slid opened the aluminum door to the warehouse. No one really noticed the noise because of the blasting beat and lyrics to some Metalica song booming out of megawatt speakers.  
  
"Hey!" Ming shouted to gain people's attention.  
  
One of the "workers" a young brown haired man, pulled his head out of the 99 Cobra he was taking the pistons out of. "Who the hell are you? How'd you get in here?" he dropped the tork wrench onto a metal tray table beside the hood of the car.  
  
"I read the billboards," Ming snapped back.  
  
"Well read my face girl" the kid approached her "Get the hell out"  
  
"Not until I get some information outta you" she spat the words at him /Prick/  
  
"Why the fuck should I tell you anything?" his voice rose, he stepped closer.   
  
This action gave Ming the upper hand, and she shoved him forcefully down onto the open hood of the Cobra. Before he could do anything else, she pinned him down with her arm across his neck.   
"I don't have a lot of patience. Now you either tell me what I wanna know, or I kick your ass up and down the block." she drove her point home by adding more pressure on his neck. "You have a guy who regulars you. Prick son-of-a-bitch that goes by the name of Jack, came in here with a Firebird for you to break down"   
  
*So where the f*ck you at?   
Punk shut the f*ck up   
And back the f*ck up   
Before we f*ck this track up*  
  
The other "workers" sat back and watched the scene unfold, doing absolutely nothing to intervene.   
  
"What's it to you woman?" he growled at her  
  
Ming grabbed his balls through his jeans in her hand and crushed it in between her hand "You keep talkin' it keeps droppin' I wanna know where Warren is" she got up in his face "Answer me!"  
  
*Tell me what you gonna do now   
Breathe in, now breathe out   
Hands up, now hands down   
Back up, back up*  
  
  
Ming pulled her knife out and replaced it with her hand on his nuts "Think REALLY hard"  
  
*Don't know" he got out.   
Who's in, now who's out   
Hands up, now hands down   
Back up, back up*  
  
"Last I heard he got himself arrested" the guy finally told her the whole thing, at least what he thought. He had heard one of his guys on the inside of Seattle lock up say they saw Jack there  
  
"Shoulda just told me that the first time" she shoved him back down once again and then let him go, leaving before he had a chance to react.  
  
*Keep rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin'   
Keep rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin'   
Keep rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin'   
Keep rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin' *  
  
*****  
  
SEATTLE CITY JAIL  
  
"Yes" Det. Sung looked up at the woman who had come into the station.  
  
"Here to see a prisoner" Ming answered "Jack Warren"  
  
Sung stood up "And you are?"  
  
Ming took out her badge "LAPD"  
  
Sung looked a little confused, but got the key to the cell out of his drawer "Is he being indited?"   
  
"Should he be?" Ming answered his question with a question.  
  
"Not to my knowledge" Sung told her "He's not even really a prisoner. He's under protective custody"  
  
"Protective from whom?"  
  
"Someone with a mark on him" Sung answered "I'm just keepin' him under guard until he can be of use to some clients of mine" he led Ming to the cell.  
  
Ming followed Sung to the drunk tank where Max had dumped Warren off.   
  
"Wakey wakey" Sung tapped on the bars to rouse Jack from his nap on the cell cot.  
  
"What the hell is it now?" Jack rubbed his eyes, sitting up on the rusty metal cot.  
  
Seeing Jack, the looser that she was certain kidnapped Cree, seeing him sitting there alive and well, while her daughter was suffering somewhere or even dead enraged her beyond anything she ever felt before.   
  
As soon as Sung had the door opened Ming tore into the cell, heading straight for him.  
"Son-of-a-bitch!" she grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him into the wall, "Where is she!"  
  
Jack had been somewhat sleepy before, but after finding himself in his current situation, became wide-awake. "Long time no see officer"  
  
Ming backed off for a second, only to punch him with a strong right hook across his cheekbone. He landed on the floor, but she yanked him back against the wall in short order. "You better start talkin' Jack what did you do with her!"  
  
"She's dead" Warren looked Ming straight in the face and told this lie. "Sorry"   
  
Ming was reeling "You're a liar" her heart pounded in her chest, as she furiously searched every fiber of her being to see if any part of her believed it. This was her daughter, she would feel it, she knew it.  
  
"Seriously" Jack went on "I dropped her off with some guys of mine-"  
  
"Shut up" Ming snapped back  
  
"The kind who have dicks for brains-"  
  
"Shut UP!"  
  
"They had fun with her, took her to a ring, but you can only get so much use out of a slut-"  
  
"SHUT UP!!" Ming had heard enough, in one sweeping move she threw Jack to the floor, and pounced on top of him and proceeded to beat the living hell outta him with her fists. "Fucking little prick!" each word was punctuated with a blow to his face.   
  
An officer grabbed Ming's shoulders trying to pull her off Jack.  
  
"Ma'am back off!" he grabbed Ming's arm, but she yanked it out of his grip.  
  
"You think this is a game-" Ming growled low and ferocious "You little shit bastard! You hurt my baby, you used her like she was trash, that means you hurt me, and on top of that you lied right to my face you fuckin' asshole! I swear to you what I find out what you did to her I will cause you the most unimaginable pain" she banged his head down on the concrete floor "But if you don't tell me where she is I'll just kill you!"   
  
*****   
  
FOGGLE TOWERS  
  
"Logan?" Max spoke the words as she opened the door to his apartment and stepped inside   
  
"In here" his voice called out to her  
  
She followed it and found him, not in his computer room, but sitting on one of his two overstuffed couches  
  
"Hey" She offered him a smile "Takin' a break?"  
  
"Not really" Logan set her straight  
  
"Oh" She came over to a chair and sat in it. "Is that-" she turned to face the stereo system, listening to the music coming out of it.  
  
"That what?" Logan asked her, wanting her to elaborate.  
  
"It's Mozart's Requiem" Max finished, listening to the haunting mass choir melody.  
  
Logan sensed something "Does it bother you?"  
  
Max shook her head "Manticore just played it one time too many"  
  
"I'll change it-" Logan mentally kicked himself for making this music choice. He switched the CD changer to another CD he had in the player.  
  
"Better?" he turned to her  
  
Max could pick up the faint beginning string plucks of Sibelius' masterpiece "Valse Triste"   
"S'good" she told him.  
  
Logan reclaimed his seat "So, about last night-"  
  
Max looked at him "Though we got this cleared"  
  
"We did" Logan reassured her "I-" paused "I just don't want you to think I slept with you just because of the moment. You mean more then that to me"  
  
"What are you tryin' to say?"  
  
"Max I-"  
  
The phone rang at his office  
  
"Get it" Max told him  
  
Frustrated, Logan got up and went to answer the call.  
  
"Yeah? Oh hey, yeah, hang on a sec. Max" he waved her over "For you its Cree"  
  
Max walked over and took the phone from him.  
  
"Cree?"  
  
"Max"  
  
"What's up?"  
  
"Nothing really, my car just blew a tire out here, and since I stole it there's no spare. Anyway not to sound girly, but its dark, and my head lights are about to give-"  
  
"I'll come pick you up"  
  
"I don't want to ruin your night Max" Cree told her  
  
"Forget my night, it's bad outside at night and you know it, so just tell me where you are-"  
  
"Ty's working tonight I was just driving out to see-"  
  
"Bitch, you better drop it-" someone else's voice came over the line  
  
"Cree-" Max heard it too.  
  
There was a sound of something metal hitting something and then static.  
  
"Cree!" Max shouted into the phone. She kept calling her name, but go no answer   
  
"What happened?" Logan asked her after she slammed the phone down.  
  
"I don't know. She said she was on her to ladder 12" Max started walking out of his office "I have to go"  
  
"Go where?" Logan followed her out "Can you give me some specifics?"  
  
"She's in trouble" Max whirled on him "Just trust me" she headed out to the front door and started to open it, but Logan closed it shut again with his hand.  
  
"You know just because we hit it doesn't give you the right to act this way-" she was cut off when he leaned over and kissed her hard. He let go of the door and framed her face with his hands.  
  
*They say this love wasn't meant to be  
Two people from two different worlds we wasn't meant to be  
It musta been fate you were sent to me  
We'll make it through these hard times eventually*  
  
He broke apart and looked at her "I love you Max, that's what gives me the right to act this way"   
  
Max was speechless at his proclamation. "I have to do this Logan. She's my friend"  
  
"I know," he told her "But you need to be careful, super soldier genes don't prevent you from getting hurt."  
  
"Some things are worth gettin' your ass knocked around for"   
  
*Stand and fight   
Walk by faith and not by sight  
We're all the same color when we turn out the lights  
I'll take the sunshine with the pain  
We all breathe the same air so we all the same*  
  
"Max-"   
  
This time it was she who cut him off by returning his earlier kiss with one of her own. "I love you too" She echoed his words, finally saying them out loud. "But I have to-"  
  
"Just go" he finished for her.  
  
They kissed one more time, quickly, before she was out the door, and this time he didn't stop her.  
  
*To get my kids out of the hood that's my hope and dream  
To raise my son to be a solider by any means*  
  
I see your true colors shining though, (straight up)  
I see your true colors and that's why I love you baby  
  
*****  
  
Max slowed her cycle when she came up Cree's car abandoned on the shoulder of the road. She dismounted her bike and walked over to the vehicle. She felt the hood with her gloved hand, it was still warm, an indication that Cree hadn't been here that long before she made the call.  
  
Max looked around for tire tracks. She found one set in the soft dirt, but none that weren't a match to the pattern made by Cree's tires, and none led out from the car's current location. She caught the sight of the something metal lying in the dirt.   
  
On closer inspection she found it to be Cree's small cell phone. The dirt revealed signs of a struggle along with a few drops of human blood. Judging by one way one of the indents in the mud was deeper then the others Max concluded that Cree was most likely knocked to the ground. She presumed unconscious because there was only one set of footprints in the dirt leading away from the area, and they left a deeper impression in the mud then normal, suggesting that who ever had been here had carried something or someone relatively heavy, causing their combined weight to sink the carrier's shoes into the mud.  
  
The drops of blood left a small trail, but stopped after about a foot. Max looked around the area where the blood stopped, scanning the night sky with her cat's eyes. The footprints continued, but became mingled with two other sets leading in different directions. One set led to the water of a retention pond, another to the lighted parking lot of a bar. The set Max had been following led straight to a warehouse. Observing it for a minute, she realized that it was the same place she had been shot at two days ago.  
  
With quiet agility she crept up to the warehouse, peeking into the small window in the door. From her angle she could see a tall sandy haired colored man staring at someone tied to a chair, someone with long black hair. She was faced away from Max, but she could make out the black silhouette of a dragon tattoo in the half-light.  
  
*****   
  
Cree felt the blood trickle down her nose. Her head didn't feel like it was going to explode anymore, but there was a throbbing headache right behind her eyes. Above her the sandy haired man, she had yet to learn his name, was standing above her, slapping a blackjack into his palm.  
  
"What the hell do you thing you're doing?" he paced in front of her, staring her down, like she was under police interrogation. "Did you think for one second that no one noticed what you did?"  
  
"I didn't exactly have the best view" she finally had gotten the chance to tell of at least one off the men who had befouled her.  
  
The sandy haired man got pissed off and he slapped her across the face. "You are not in the position to have a smart mouth slut"  
  
Cree sucked up the blood from the split lip she received from the slap and spit it in her captives face.   
  
"You bitch!" he raised the black jack to slam it on her face, but at the last second she head butted him and sent him reeling to the floor.  
  
Behind the chair Cree's hands were a fury of activity trying to loosen the ropes the bound her wrists. She worked feverishly, despite the rope burn her movements were producing.  
  
She felt two hands, not her own, grab her rope and work the knots.  
  
"Max" Cree could smell the cherry scent her friend always used. "Ever worked with knots before?"  
  
"You kidding?" Max returned, "I was a girl scout" she broke the rope with one tug, very unlike the Girl Scout status she claimed to have. Cree helped her unloop the remains from her wrist.  
  
The man had since recovered from the blow and launched himself at Max, knocking her to the ground. "You're asking for it now girly girl!" he raised the blackjack in the air.  
  
Max flipped over in one powerful move and landed the man on his back three feet away. He recovered and picked up the fallen blackjack.  
  
She caught it this time when he swung it at her, and kicked him square in the face. "You never learn do you?" she slammed the blackjack into his balls, sliding him to the floor.  
  
Suddenly a large, ominous creaking was heard as one of the old dome shaped aluminum lighting fixtures broke off from its rotted wiring and fell to the floor, along with part of the roof that supported it, blocking the only exit. The popping of the light bulb in the fixture sparked, catching onto loose rotting boards and sparking them on fire. The flames quickly spread around one side of the warehouse, where the bottom of the wooden stairs became perfect fodder for it. The flames rose four feet high, engulfing the door in a wall of fire.  
*****   
  
LADDER 12  
FIREMAN'S LIVING QUARTERS  
  
"Ty" Logan called out to the man he met last height  
  
Ty turned "Logan, something wrong?"  
  
"Is Cree here?" Logan asked him, coming over to the couch where Ty was sitting.  
  
Ty shook his head "I haven't seen her since last night" he looked pack over to the Steelers game playing out on the 20 inch RCA. "Man turn it up"  
  
"Max said she was on her way to see you"  
  
"I haven't heard anything bout it" Ty told him, not taking his eyes off the game  
  
"Something happened tonight" Logan went straight for the kill "She called me at my house-"  
  
"Isn't it allowed for your girlfriend to call you at home?"  
  
"No-" Logan cut in "Not Max, she was with me. I'm talking about Cree. She had a flat and Max offered to pick her up, but the line went dead. Max went to get her, and I haven't heard from either of them since."  
  
"Max is a big girl Logan" Ty reassured him "She can find her way home at night"  
  
"You're not listening!" Logan got upset "Max and Cree were cut off in their conversation, there was nothing wrong with the line. I think something happened to Cree-"  
  
"Fire in progress at 34 Fletcher Ave-" a dispatcher's voice came over the intercom sitting on the countertop in the fireman's kitchen.  
  
"Move it guys lets go!" There was a hustle as the fireman cut off the TV and went to answer the call.  
  
"Fletcher?" Logan said the name of the location out loud.  
  
"Yeah, listen Logan, I'm sorry I can't be of more help to you but I have to do my job-"  
  
"Ty" Logan broke in again "Two nights ago-" he tried to think of a way to word this to get his point across without revealing Cree's history to him yet. "Cree has this old boyfriend whose been stalking her. Max went out for her once at this warehouse where he worked to tell him to back off and he shot her. Fletcher Ave, it's the same location. Cree is over there, I know it-" and then Logan voiced the part that meant the most to him "and so is Max"  
  
Ty did do a step back at the thought of Cree being in danger, but he didn't break much in his stride of "fireman adrenaline" "I believe you man, but I still have to go now-"  
  
"I'm coming with you" Logan informed  
  
"There's not enough room in the rig for-"  
  
"I have my car" Logan interrupted again "And I'm going"  
  
"Fine" Ty finally agreed "But you have to keep up"  
  
*****   
  
Ming shoved her hands in her coat pockets, staring up at the night sky, running the conversation with Jack over in her head again. /Prick, the fucking prick/ She was so close, she knew it, and even though her gut feeling told her Cree was still alive, she was so tired, tired of missing her, longing for her, being without her. A small part of her died the night she went missing three years ago. She didn't think she could bear feeling this way forever.   
  
*Why, why, why, why  
There you are  
In a darkened room  
And you're all alone  
Looking out the window  
Your heart is cold and lost the will to love Like a broken arrow*  
  
Frustrated, she dug out her switchblade and threw it hard against the crack in the mortar of a brick wall. The blade stuck in the crack, resonating a slight sound from the force of the throw.  
Angrily, she pulled the blade out and threw it again, hitting the same mark. This time when she went to pull it out, she caught the smell of smoke in the air. She backed away from the brick wall of the building she was at and moved to the end of the sidewalk.   
  
She could see a blanket of smoke covering the stars in the night sky, and the glow of bright orange flames. Forever a cop, Ming pulled out her Motorola and dialed the fire department.  
  
"Yeah, I'm at the corner of-" she looked above her head to the street sign "the corner of Fletcher and 32nd street, and I see a blaze about thirty yards in-"  
  
"Yes ma'am" the dispatcher cut in "we know about that. We have a unit out to the scene already"  
  
Ming simply hung up after that, looking once again at the fire raging. She felt useless just standing on the sidewalk. She was never a bystander, so after putting away her phone she took off in a sprint towards the flames to see if there was any way she could help  
  
*Here I stand in the shadows   
(In the shadows) Come to me, come to me Can't you see that  
  
Nobody wants to be lonely  
Nobody wants to cry  
My body's longing to hold you  
So bad it hurts inside  
Time is precious and it's slipping away  
And I've been waiting for you all of my life  
Nobody wants to be lonely so why  
Why don't you let me love you*  
  
****   
  
"We gotta go!" Max shouted to Cree above the roar of the flames   
  
"I know!" Cree responded "But how?" smoke was filling her eyes, and she wiped them furiously with her jacket to keep the falling soot out of them. "The exit's blocked!"  
  
"Back off from the flames!" Max called out to her "I have an idea!" she ran to one of the walls of the building.   
  
The guy Max had beaten up now stood up and saw what they were doing "Hey!" he picked up the fallen light with the intent to throw it at them. "Ahh!" the fixture extremely hot from the heat of the flames scorched and blistered his hands  
  
"Get down!" Max shouted to Cree, who ducked with her seconds before the fixture smashed above their heads, showering them with broken pieces. "We gotta move fast before he tries that again!" Max was now talking like the soldier she was bred to be. "This wood is old and the fire weakened it more. Too much weight against it and the whole damn thing's gonna fall on us"  
  
"Just tell me what you want to do!" Cree told her "I'm open to anything"  
  
"Knock out two bottom boards" Max started giving out orders "Make a big enough hole for a person to slide through. The woods rotting it should come right out. Don't do it near of the long beams, their load barring"  
Cree nodded. "Let's go then"  
  
"On three" Max told her, readying her hands for the impact "One two three-" her and Cree punched through the wood, but Max's hand hit something solid.  
  
"Shit" she cursed at the pain, but more at realizing what it was. "We have to try somewhere else, there's a propane tank here. It's gonna blow before we can get out." She started looking around, trying to find a way out. Her eyes caught sight of the old staircase, have enveloped in flames.   
"C'mon, take the stairs"  
  
Cree was hesitant, but Max yanked her by her hand "Now, before it collapses!"  
  
Cree got over her fear in a hurry and followed Max hap hazardly up the crumbling stairs. The top three stairs were gone so they both had to jump over the flaming gap, easy for Max, but not for Cree, who Max had to whip around and catch with one hand before she plummeted below.  
  
The reached the small landing at the top of the stairs and Max elbowed out a window. Next to the sill was an electric wire that ran along side the building, and that, at its lowest point was ten feet from the ground  
  
This is the only way out" Max informed "I'm guessin' we got about two minutes before that propane blows this place ski high. So whatever fears you have about sliding down a cable forty feet above the ground you better get over now"  
  
Let's just do it before I do something stupid" Cree told her.   
  
Take off your belt and your sweater" Max told her, watching as Cree stripped down to her tight blue v-neck thin tank top. "Wrap the sweater around the belt for an insulator, we might spark the wire. Now hand it to me" she took the belt from Cree. "Hopefully this will hold us up" Max longed for her cross bow, but she had to make due with this if she didn't want to blow with the building. She looped the belt over the wire and secured it on the third to the last hole. She gave Cree one last look "You're gonna have to dangle by my hand, the force of your weight should give us a faster downward pull. Keep your other arm at your side and your legs together!" Max grabbed onto the loop with one hand, and held the other out to Cree. "Go!" she could hear the creaking and breaking of the boards she was standing on.  
  
Cree grabbed her hand, and felt herself falling.  
  
*****   
  
Ming got to the scene of the fire at the same time a fire engine pulled up. She headed towards the building just as one of the firemen was climbing out of the truck. She went around the back before any of them could see her and tell her to stop.  
  
"Move move!" Ty shouted to the rest of his team. Him and three others got their hoses positioned and started spraying the building down while two other firemen, gas masked up to go inside the blaze.  
  
"Ryan, is there anyone inside?" Ty called into his radio.  
  
"Can't tell yet, there's too much smoke. Holy shit, there's a propane tank here man!"  
  
"How close?" Ty called back  
  
"Flames all around the edge!"  
  
"Do you see two women in-" Ty didn't get the last words out before an earth rocking explosion knocked Ty and the crew outside to the ground.  
  
"Max!" Logan came jogging up to the blast site. He had seen her motorcycle parked back down the road. To everyone's horror the building collapsed under itself in a fiery inferno.  
  
"Ryan come back!" Ty was shouting in his radio "You there?" his voice was frantic.  
  
A few minutes of static, then "We got out man, I saw someone before it blew, but I couldn't get to them in time"  
  
Ty received the grim news, seeing Logan approach him he responded back "Was it a woman?"  
"I couldn't tell man, smoke was too thick."  
  
The news was very unsettling to Logan, and to Ty as well judging by the look in his eyes. "We don't know it was either of them Logan" Ty tried to sound professional.  
  
From the edge of the building there was movement. "Well I'll be dammed" Jerry, the fireman beside Ty called out "Ty check it out"  
  
Ty looked. Logan looked. Two figures emerged from the smoke, covered in soot, and smelling of smoke.   
  
Logan's heart started beating again when he saw who it was.  
"Told you I'd be careful" Max stepped over to Logan and found herself swept up in a hug.  
  
"No offense Max, but you kind of stink" Logan was trying to be light, now that it was all over.  
Before she could talk smack to him he kissed her, long and passionate, making the fireman hoot at them.  
  
Cree approached Ty "Guess I set the world on fire"  
  
Ty, being a civil servant and a gentleman, took off his fireman's jacket and put over her form, because it had started to lightly rain, which would be good to put out the flames.  
  
"Are you okay?" he asked her  
  
"Not really" she wasn't like Max   
  
He touched her head "You're bleeding"  
  
She responded by wiping some blood off with her hand. "Forgot about that"  
  
"Here" he pushed a gloved hand to her forehead, making her flinch  
  
"Oww"  
  
"Don't be such a baby Cree"  
  
*****  
  
Ming couldn't get to the building in time before it fell. She headed back out to the front. She saw "civilians" outside with the fireman, and she was glad that some of them made it out.  
  
She turned to leave, but then stopped, hearing something familiar.  
  
"Don't be such a baby Cree"   
  
"Watch that"  
  
That voice, Ming pushed her way through the crowd, looking.  
  
*****   
  
Cree looked up, catching a flash of a vision /Damn I'm seeing things again/ She saw a woman, black hair, she looked so much like her. She had seen too many of these visions in her life. This one was so real, almost exactly like her-  
  
*****   
  
Ming stopped dead in her tracks, words disappeared from her mouth, she tried again.   
  
"Cree-" her voice was hesitant, but she tried again  
  
"Cree"  
  
* Can you hear my voice  
Do you hear my song  
It's a serenade  
So your heart can find me And suddenly you're flying down the stairs  
Into my arms, baby*   
  
Her vision talked, then it hit her like a ton of brick, it wasn't a dream. The woman was pushing her way through the fireman.  
  
"Cree wait!" Ty called after her when she suddenly started to move away from him.  
  
Cree was walking, and then she was running. Time seemed to take forever.  
She couldn't talk she just ran  
  
*Before I start going crazy  
Run to me, run to me  
'Cause I'm dying*  
  
****   
  
Both met in the center in a death lock, choking off each other's air.   
  
"My baby" Ming's words were half there in her sobs "Oh god, my baby, you came back" she pulled apart and kissed her everywhere, taking in her face, her eyes, everything she remembered, and new things that she missed. "you came back"  
  
"Mom, how did you find me?" Cree thought she would never get to say those words again. "Why-how?"  
  
"I have no damn idea" Ming told her straight out   
  
This made Cree laugh slightly, before she threw herself at her mom again "I missed you mom god- I've been so screwed-" her words drifted into sobs  
  
"I know" Ming told her, hugging her like she would never let her go "It's okay baby, my sweet baby I love you so much"  
  
*Nobody wants to be lonely  
Nobody wants to cry  
My body's longing to hold you  
So bad it hurts inside  
Time is precious and it's slipping away  
And I've been waiting for you all of my life  
Nobody wants to be lonely so why don't you let me love you*   
  
"Mom why us? Why me?" Cree looked up at her mother, eyes so much like hers, wet with tears.  
  
"I don't know-" Ming could only give her an honest answer, hugging her closer.  
  
*...And I feel so light   
This is all I want to feel tonight   
And I feel so light   
Tonight and the rest of my life   
Tonight and the rest of my life"  
  
*****   
  
I was so anxious to get to the reunion scene you have know I idea, I wanted it to come across as sweet, but not something like coming home from summer camp, I mean Ming thought she could be dead, it had to be heart wrenching.   
  
Max and Logan said the "L" word..yay..i did it to what I think it would be like for them..with who they are it wouldn't be Champaign and roses. Logan would try that, but something would get in the way..so this was my spin  
  
This isn't the end of the story, there's still Ty, and Cree's other family, and they have to be dealt with. I don't think I can even cover Cree's demons in this story so...yay! There will most likely be a sequel dealing with the aftermath of Cree's time in Seattle as well as Logan and Max's shack up, AND (don't you love it when there's an "and"?) Max never told Cree about Manticore, and that might be a good avenue to explore.  
  
Hope you cried..that was the idea.   
I started a trend with the last chap, so here are the songs in order again:  
  
(Chop shop scene) "Rollin" Limp Bizkit   
  
(Max and Logan talking in Logan's apartment) "True Colors" (Save the Last Dance Soundtrack)  
  
(Ming alone by wall and reunion) "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" Ricky Martin and Christina Agulara  
  
(end of story) "Tonight and the Rest of My Life" Nina Gordon (off "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" and "Dark Angel" soundtracks)   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Like a broken arrow 


	22. For Those Who Cannot Out

Chapter 22 "For Those Who Cannot Out"  
  
A/N: Sorry it's been a while I know. But the holidays caught up with me and school starts next week..ugh..but here I am. Also I had thoughts about where to go in this next chapter, but I couldn't get it into the right words. So anywayz, enjoy.   
  
A/N #2: This is set immediately after where chap. 21 ended. There's too much important stuff in that scene to just skip ahead from it.  
  
SIDE NOTE: The title is taken from the end of a book called "The House on Mango Street" It's a collection of vignettes (short stories) about a Hispanic family living in a city. It was a very good story about a girl's struggle and change growing up.  
  
*****   
  
"Baby are you hurt?" Ming pulled back from her death lock embrace to look her daughter over   
  
Cree shook her head, a bit sadly. She WASN'T hurt today. She had been hurt so many times in the last three years that she had scars on top of scars on top of scars. She looked to her mother, wanting to ask her if they could get outta there. But where would they go? Right here and now was what she wanted to remember most. Hugging someone she thought she would never see again.   
  
"Everyone got out man" Kirk, another fireman announced to Ty, giving him a slap on the back "Nice work"  
  
Ty turned to him "For you too man" Ty then turned to look over at Logan "You're not gonna say 'I told you so'"   
  
Logan only shrugged a smile in return before his eyes turned back towards Cree and her mom.   
  
"She deserved this moment so much" Max spoke up beside him  
  
Logan turned to her "Yeah, but its not over"  
  
"Don't think I don't know that"   
  
*****   
  
CRASH  
  
For some reason, everyone wound up at the Jam Pony worker hang. Ming was there too, in the seat next to Cree. She had tons of questions, worries and concerns to talk to her daughter about. But she was still her mother and knew that they both needed to wind down from the emotional roller coaster they were just on.  
  
Ming looked at her baby. So much the same, and yet different. She had grown up, but not in the way she should. Way too fast, a woman before her time. Her eyes, her hair, they were all the traits of her, but the way she held herself, the way she walked, it all came from Peter. Despite her pain and the horror of what she must've undergone Ming was in quiet awe of the person, the woman her daughter had grown up to be.   
  
The bar was loud, crowded, but so was every other bar in the United States. Ming was no stranger to drinks, especially after a hard day, or the past three years. She swore she would never go nuts and make a mess of herself, but that didn't stop her from downing her fair share of straight Tequila shots.   
  
Which was what she was having right now. Tequila and lime on the rocks.   
  
"Are Jade and dad-"  
  
"They're fine" Ming reassured Cree when she asked, forcing a tight smile on her face. "Be better then that after I call them"  
  
Cree smiled, a real one, touching her mom's hand.  
  
Ming placed her other one on top of Cree's. "Everyone thought I was crazy-"  
  
"What? That I might be alive?"  
  
Ming's look was her daughter's answer   
  
"I was alive" Cree went on "But there were days I wished I wasn't"  
  
*It's a shame our reality is deveastain'   
People prayin' for a cure dyin' while they waitin'  
Askin' the Lord for the comfort and the strength to face it  
All the kids with dreams won't get the chance to chase it  
Makes me sad, think about lives they coulda had  
Think about the orphan babies got no moms and dads  
How can we sit back and not try to make it right  
We gotta come together  
We gotta fight for life*  
  
Ming's look held compassion for what her baby must've gone through "I'm sorry baby" it was all she could think of to say at that moment.  
  
Cree looked at her straight in the eyes, not saying anything, not knowing what to say.  
  
A song came across the sound system. The familiar melody made Ming turn "You remember this?"  
  
"You and daddy" Peter wasn't Cree's biological father. Ming had gotten married before to a man named Chris Yu, someone her parents raved over at first but Chris started to abuse Ming, beating on her pretty badly so she left, but it took two years to get up enough nerve to. She met Peter at a coffee shop in downtown LA while she and Chris were still married, but staying apart. He had been working to build a cooperate office building. At the time Ming was seven months pregnant with Cree. Chris knew of the baby, and wanted Ming back, but Ming feared for her life. So she got a restraining order against her estranged husband before filing for divorce. Her parents disapproved thoroughly, even more so when Ming started dating Peter regularly. They moved in together after two months of dating. Ming was still in a bad place to make a full commitment to a man. Cree was born almost immediately after they moved in together.   
  
Peter was African-American and Ming's family felt that it would start the rumors going that the baby wasn't his, and that she had slept around. But Ming didn't care. She had already joined the police academy at the LAPD, something her mother hated with a passion. She and Peter continued living together for another year and a half before finally getting married. Cree got to be flower girl at her parents wedding. She remembered nothing of Chris and Ming kept it that way, only telling her that she had another daddy before Peter. The courts granted her full custody of Cree given the abusive nature of her first husband. Cree's called Peter "daddy" from the first moment she could talk, and Peter loved her just like his own. Which she almost was. He knew her since she was born.   
  
Ming graduated from the academy and became a seasoned cop, shortly after Jade was born and the family bought a comfortable, nice two story old town house in LA.   
  
But the song playing now, it was the first song Ming and Peter danced to at their wedding.   
  
*If tomorrow is judgment day (sing mommy)  
And I'm standin' on the front line  
And the Lord ask me what I did w/ my life  
I will say I spent it with you   
  
If I wake up in WW 3  
I see destruction and poverty  
And I feel like I wanna go home  
It's okay if your commin' with me   
  
Cause your love is my love  
And my love is your love  
It would take an eternity to break us  
And the chains of Amistad couldn't hold us..*   
  
"Seemed so long ago" Cree remembered the innocence of the time, when she only worried about her dress being the wrong color to match the flowers she was holding. "Everything changed.."   
  
"Time can't stand still sweetie" Ming spoke up   
  
"How did you find me?" Cree changed the subject "I was scared to call, I thought someone might-"  
  
"I ran into my boy Jack-" Ming spat out the words   
  
"He told you?" Cree sounded surprised  
  
"I got what I wanted by my methods"   
  
"I'm sorry mom," Cree looked to her mother with sad eyes "I should've waited for Jade-"  
  
"Baby you didn't do anything wrong" Ming interrupted "You were just being you. And as frustrated as that made me sometimes you did NOT deserve the crap that that little bastard put you through" she found it hard to keep a straight voice "I looked for you every moment. Even when I slept, if there was some part of you I could still feel then you weren't-" she couldn't even say it.   
  
"Mom please don't cry. I'm the one who got messed up, permanently dirty-"  
  
Ming hugged her "You're NOT dirty Cree. What happened to you was dirty baby. You didn't deserve it"  
  
Cree started to cry then too. She thought she had no more tears, but she was wrong. And some part of her was glad for it, to be able to still feel.  
  
*****   
END.  
  
That was short, but I couldn't think of anything to add to it to make it good. But I'm doing the next chap right now, they'll be posted together.   
  
Songs used again are:   
  
"What's Goin' On? WTC All Star Tribute" (Eve's rap)  
  
"Your Love is My Love" Whitney Huston 


	23. He Is

Chapter 23 "He Is"   
  
A/N: Wow, two chaps posted in a row! Anyways, this part will focus more on Ty as an individual. I will keep Cree and everyone in here, but I really haven't gone into Ty since I introduced him.   
  
*****   
  
CRASH  
  
Ty leant back into the chair. He watched Cree interact with her mom, like she had never seen her before. And he was confused as hell. Granted that he only knew the woman for two days, but things kept getting deeper and more complex as the days went on.   
  
"Great save man" Kirk slapped Ty on his shoulder beside him. Kirk ceased his compliment when he saw that Ty wasn't paying attention "Ty, boy you still here?"  
  
"What?" Ty turned then "Yeah, I'm cool."  
  
"Seems more to me like you're hot" Kirk joked, seeing Ty looking at Cree "Can't say that I blame ya, she looks hot"  
  
"She's 18-" Ty cut in for some reason  
  
"So?" Kirk shot back "I'm 25, you're 22, not like its sagatory or nothin'. Girl's legal-"   
  
"It's not that" Ty snapped in, wishing he hadn't said anything "I just get the feelin' she's not tellin' me everything"   
  
"Uh huh, and for THAT you're gonna stop the ship" Kirk didn't sound too convinced. "Let you have this one man, you seem interested enough"  
  
"I appreciate that"   
  
"So" Kirk looked around to the other women at the small gathering at the tables. The other women being Max and Cindy "You seem to have got yourself acquainted with this group pretty well, any other of these nice lookers available?"   
  
"Your bets are off with her-" Ty gave a nod over to Max sitting at the table beside Cindy. "Her boyfriend Logan was the one that tipped me off about Cree bein' in the fire"  
  
"Damn" Kirk drew out the word "Some of us have all the luck" he looked at Cindy "Bout her?"  
  
"Honestly don't know man" Ty informed   
  
"So that means I have a shot-"  
  
"Could be"  
  
"She got a name you know of?"  
  
"Think it's Cindy-"  
  
"Nice, suits her" Kirk agreed, looking back to the woman of the hour  
  
Sketchy just happened to be heading back to his table with a pitcher, and overheard the conversation the two fireman were having "If you guys are tryin' to get with Original Cindy forget it, no guy has a chance"  
  
"Why's that?" Kirk turned to Sketchy curious  
  
"Cause her last date was named Angela" Sketch answered back   
  
"Ooo" Ty grimaced "Crash and burn" he looked to Sketchy "Thanks for the heads up man"  
  
"Not a problem" Sketchy left with his pitcher   
  
"Damn" Kirk repeated again "Two good lookin' women. One of them's taken and the other's not even into dating men" he took a sip of his beer. "Any chance of-"  
  
"Get your head out of that game plan man, that's Cree's mother. And a cop I might add"  
  
"Why don't I just quit while I'm ahead?"  
  
"Might be a good thing," Ty returned, pouring himself another glass. He looked back towards Cree. She and her mom were talking still, in quiet voices. There was something about the way they were sitting together that filled Ty's head with all kinds of questions. Something big must've happened for there to be as big of a reunion as he witnessed between the two. Cree barely mentioned her family, but she always sounded so sad when she talked about them, so he didn't pressure her.  
  
He barely knew her, but at times it felt like he knew her forever. He always wanted a relationship like that, not necessarily a marriage, just someone he could be with. His last hook up lasted almost a year, but in the end they really could find no real connection to stay together. Every man in the world might argue that being able to have sex with a 5'6 green-eyed, 110-pound blonde with a figure like rivaled Tyra Banks was the best kind of "connection" there was. But Alyse and him had nothing really to talk about. He stayed with her, and he did care for her, but it wasn't what he thought it could be. She was a great person, but it never went anywhere. And contrary to popular belief Ty didn't want to be with a woman just because of good sex. Nine hundred call up girls and hookers gave good sex, that wasn't something that hard to find. He was still young, but he wanted more then lust. He wasn't exactly ready to 'settle down' Marriage was a bit of a ways off. His older sister Jessica was already married with two babies, his twin nieces Reese and Mya. He was happy at this point to be an uncle and brother in law.   
  
But with Cree, it had only been three days, but he defiantly knew he wanted something with her. What is was, and if that led into something deeper, like requiring a ring and diapers, he would have to see if it played out, but he did want what was apparently coming.  
  
She had such a haunted, beautiful look about her. In a way Ty could see why Logan was in love with Max, he could see in Cree's eyes that same haunted, yet strong loyal look that Logan saw in Max.  
  
*I tried to look the other way  
But there you passed me by  
I saw you holding Q Tips hand  
And girl damn near died  
They way you hold that cosmo  
Just fits you to a tee  
But I just wish that you was sitting  
Right next to me  
  
I wonder what was on God's mind  
The day that he made you  
I know he wrote a new commandment  
After he was through  
But every time I see you   
I find something new  
I just gotta have you*   
  
"Scuse me"   
  
Ty looked up to see a woman, an older version of Cree standing above him. Black straight hair, brown eyes, strong eyes, the same beauty as Cree, just a bit more mature "Mind if I sit?"  
  
Ty's response was to kick a chair back for her "No ma'am"   
  
Ming sat "Thanks-"  
  
"Ty" he answered back, holding out his hand "Ty Aris, I'm a fireman at Ladder 12"   
  
"Well Ty Aris, I'm Ming Amston, Cree's mother. I just want to thank you for what you did for my baby-"  
  
"With all due respect Officer Amston, You're daughter's 18, she's not a baby anymore." He didn't look at her with anger, just with a want for her to understand his position, that he might want to have a relationship with her daughter, and for her to understand he saw her as a woman, not a little girl.  
  
"Society dictates that to be true" Ming agreed "But with all due respect Mr. Aris, Cree can be ninety-years old with thirty-four grand kids and twelve great grand kids and she'd still be my baby. But I see you know what I came here to talk about, at least most of it anyways-"  
  
"Officer-"  
  
"Please Ty, neither one of us is on duty, so either call me Mrs. Amston, or hell call me Ming if you want, but stop this crap about officer before I show you how I got first ranking in my weapons class at the police academy"  
  
Ty smirked at that "You're the boss"  
  
Ming smiled for a second, before speaking again "Ty, how long have you known Cree?"  
  
"Not long Mrs. Amston" Ty went for the polite name from Ming's choices "Almost three days"  
  
Ming looked at him then with a quiet sadness "Did Cree ever talk to you about-"  
  
"About what?"  
  
The older woman sighed "This was the first time I saw her since 2017." She saw Ty's slight astonishment, but he masked it fast so she could go on  
  
"Can I ask what-"  
  
"She was abducted" Ming interrupted, looking him straight in the eye "Late one night she was going out to go sing at a karaoke bar near our house in LA. I was going to take her and Jade, that's my youngest daughter, out and pick them up later. But Cree had this boyfriend, Jack-" she spat on the name "Anyways, he came to pick her up that night. She begged me to go with him. My husband and I put up a fight, I was a cop, I KNEW it wasn't safe. But in the end I let her go." Her eyes got sadder "And she never came home. I got to work next day and her boyfriend's name was all over the precinct. Witness saw unknown men taking a young girl into a black car. But by the time we got there it was too late. Jack was involved, I knew it. He skipped LA as soon as Cree vanished. I looked for her hard core for months after she was gone. Every time a girl's body was reported found over the scanner I almost lost it. Everyone at work thought I was crazy. I knew the odds of finding a child alive after that long. But I WASN'T going to give up and bury my child in a bodiless grave just to give them closure. I got a lead on her ex here in Seattle so I came. He was there- the son-of-a-bitch. He told me EVERYTHING. How Cree got taken away that night to some ring somewhere."  
  
Ty's sat up straighter then.   
  
"I haven't had the heart to ask her yet. How she lived through all of it. I busted slave rings Ty. I know what they can be like. I've even lived through abuse with my ex husband, but this isn't the same. I have her back. But a part of her is gone, it died that night those rat asses put their hands on her. She grew into a strong woman without me, but as her mother I need to know how. I can't help her any other way. She's old enough now. A cup of cocoa and a made up story won't cut it no more" Ming looked hard at Ty "I know you like her Ty. I can see it. I saw that same look from my man Peter when we were first dating. I don't know how hurt she is because of this, or if she can ever be with a man, but it's not up to me to decide. She is the only one who will know things like that. If you want to be with her, you will have to talk to her. I can't accept anything else otherwise." Now her voice got authoritative. Cree was her daughter, first and foremost, she would always be protective of her.  
  
"Yes ma'am"  
  
Ming stood back up "Thank you for hearing me out Ty. If Cree would've met someone like you first, maybe this could all have been avoided" she left then.   
  
****   
  
*Oh, my, where do, how do I begin  
To answer the question I know you been wonderin'  
Playin' cool, I, cool, how could it all be true  
These things, who's that and what's it to you*  
  
*****   
  
FOGGLE TOWERS   
  
"What do you think Ty wanted to talk to Cree about?" Max was making conversation with Logan on his couch. Ty had asked Cree to his place, and Cree had gone, with some persuasion from her mother.  
  
"She has a lot of issues Max" Logan reminded her "He might've found some of them out. As shitty as it is for her, she needs to let some of them loose if she wants a real relationship"  
  
Max silently agreed with him, judging by the look in her eyes. "A real relationship, like ours?" she was more questioning then stating.  
  
"Is that what you want?"  
  
She shrugged "I never had a real relationship before Logan, too messed up for it I guess-"  
  
"You're not" Logan corrected, "No relationship has two perfect people, despite what people think. Real things have their flaws"  
  
"I'm the imperfection," she agreed  
  
"No" Logan corrected again "You're about the only good part of this whole deal. Max I-" he waited, waiting for the usual interruption, going on when none came "I told you I loved you, and I still mean it. There was no heat of the moment feelings that made me spill it out. I've always loved you."  
  
She was actually speechless then. "Love you too" she repeated her earlier words before she left to rescue Cree. "I've tried too hard to be normal Logan, I don't want that shit anymore. I just want to be me-"  
  
She felt him kiss her. He didn't reply to her remark, but the way he was touching her, the way he looked at her, it made her fucked up world seem better because of it.  
  
"You wanna-" he broke apart for a moment, his voice dark  
  
"Don't ask" she had darkness there too. Brown sugar, what Cindy called it. Wanting no talk, just feeling.  
  
He picked her up then, something he wanted to do their first time, but it was too hot to act on romance.Her arms looped around his neck.  
  
She felt him lay her on the bed gently in the dark, his hands pulling down her tank top straps and kissing her exposed skin, his mouth everywhere above the fabric.   
  
"Logan enough" she pulled back. "I don't want that" she didn't know if she was in heat, or just needed it right now "I just want you"  
  
He looked at her in the dark, she could feel it, and then he straddled her body, bracing his weight on his arms so she wouldn't be crushed, and he kissed her long, hard, but honest, making her honest, giving her what she wanted, what they both wanted.   
  
*He is the mind objector, the heart protector  
The soul defender of anything I fear  
The baby conceiver, the make me believer  
The joy bringer, the love giver*  
  
*****   
  
VILLA LAKES  
APARTMENT 16  
SEATTLE  
  
"Am I too dirty now?" Cree had just told Ty the almost complete R rated version of her life in the sex ring. She sat cross-legged on his couch, she couldn't even look him in the eye. She was a victim, but she still was dirty. A whore more then two hundred times over. Her mom had talked to Ty, she knew. She had wanted to go back to her hotel and talk, God knows they had enough catching up to do, but Ming told her to see Ty.   
  
/FLASH: "I've got you in my sights now kiddo, and I'm not letting you go again. Don't stop the life you've just began for me"  
  
"Mom I-"  
  
"Baby, I'm not asking" Ming looked at her in gentle sternness, her arm around Cree's shoulder "We will have our time tomorrow, but tonight, this is yours"/  
  
"Cree" Ty stopped in front of is couch, kneeling down next to her. "Did you want it?"  
  
"What the hell are you saying?"  
  
"Did you?"  
  
"Hell NO!" she shouted right in his face. How could he ask her that? How could ANYONE ask her that? She was dirty, but she never wanted the dirtiness. Does a cat asked to given heat cycles where she wants to fuck every male feline she can jump at?   
  
"Then you aren't dirty. You did what you had to do to live"  
  
"Still can't look at myself"  
  
"I can"  
  
She looked up to him then, looking him completely in the eye. "How?" she paused, gathering her thoughts "Do you see me as a woman or as a-"  
  
"How can you ask me that? Whores are those asses who did that to you, not you or any of those women who were with you. A whore would take it, not run away, not want her life back."  
  
"You're just saying this to make me feel bett-"  
  
"No Cree I'm not. Ask my last girlfriend; I'm not Mr. Sentimental. I respect women, but I don't sugar coat a feeling. I want to help you though. Help, not just take away the pain for the time being"   
  
*He is  
  
All these words are only frostin' on my cake  
Feelings explain, don't do justice to how I feel  
So alive, so in love for the first time  
No way can I hide who am I*  
  
"Do you?" she wanted an answer from her last question  
  
"Yes Cree" Ty reassured her "I have always seen you as a woman"  
  
"Even now?"  
  
"Especially now" /Shit/ "Cree I don't mean it like-"  
  
She grabbed him then, by his leather jacket, and kissed him. Something she thought she would never initiate again.  
  
Ty kissed her back, not knowing what to do now. With what happened before at Crash and over the last three years, she had to make the first move.   
  
Cree pulled back for a moment "Ty I can't. What I mean is I can't do it yet. It's too soon-"  
  
"Cree it's okay. I'm not expecting it" he calmed her down "We could just-"  
  
"This" Cree kissed him again "Just keep doing this" she looped her arms around his neck   
  
(SLOW ZOOM OUT SHOT OF TY AND CREE KISSING ON HIS COUCH)  
  
*He is the mind objector, the heart protector  
The soul defender of anything I fear  
The baby conceiver, the make me believer  
The joy bringer, the love giver  
  
He is the dough increaser, the pleasure releaser  
The hard knocks knower without the scars to show ya  
The night school teacher, the good life preacher  
The caretaker, the kiss craver  
He Is.. *  
  
*****   
  
This story's commin' to a close. The next one will be the last chapter. I think it's coming to a good point to end. I can't go into everything I want in the finale, so I WILL do a sequel.   
  
I wanted to have Ming talk to Ty, they needed some kind of connection, cause the dude likes her daughter. Ming, Peter and them will be reunited in the next part. I just needed to get them to release feelings. A terrible thing happened to them. It don't just go away cause Cree is back.  
  
Max and Logan reached their high point, so its smooth sailing for them (for now, next installment, have to throw some stuff there way..makes it more interesting)   
  
I will work on the next chapter a lot, but school starts tomorrow, so I'll do my best. I just wanted to get these up.  
  
Songs in here are:  
  
"You" Lucy Pearl, Snoop Dog, Q-Tip "Save the Last Dance" Soundtrack  
  
"He Is" (also the title of the chapter) Heather Headley   
  
R/R please  
  
Peace  
Mystic 


	24. The Begining

Chapter 24 "The Beginning"  
  
A/N: Wow, after two and a half years of working, this is it. The FINAL chapter..DA-MN! Can't believe I made it this far. When I first started I didn't even know if I would complete this fic. It's been an experience for me. I learned so much from creating these characters  
  
A/N: #2: While this part is over, have no fear there will be a sequel. I just want to take this time to thank those who read this piece of work and MAJOR thanks to those who have reviewed, suggested and supported me as I wrote this. So thank you White Kittie for all your countless reviews and ideas, Tab, for your ever-faithful comments that I do good. Zaz, for wanting me to get my work up FASTER, props for that. And to all the rest of you guys, thanks, I appreciated every one of the comments.  
  
Time for the final curtain call....  
  
*****  
  
SEATTLE  
THE NEXT MORNING   
HOTEL GRANDE   
  
Ming shut her suitcase with a quick 'snap' of the cover. She picked it up off the tiny bed that she had slept in for the past few days. Her eyes held some satisfaction in knowing that she was going home. She had done what she came here to do, and she was successful.   
  
All except for one thing. How far was this success? Ming wanted more then anything for Cree to come back home with her, but this wasn't an ideal world. Cree had grown up hard, and had established a life for herself here in this city. As much as Ming loved her, she couldn't force her into doing anything. Maybe when she left she could, but she wasn't a child anymore. She owed it to her to have her make up her own mind.  
  
She looked at her watch. There was still time, two hours to be exact before her flight out. She had told Cree she'd meet her at the address Cree had given her of the apartment she was staying in. She wanted to talk to her before. Cree had to know that she could stay if she wanted, that leaving was NOT something that was a given. Her baby had grown up, and as such she needed to make her own decisions.  
  
*****   
  
SECTOR 10  
  
"Here boo" Cindy handed Cree an old bag of hers to finish stuffing some clothes in. She watched Cree continue to pack the meager amount of clothes she had accumulated since her stay here. "So you got yourself a plan?"  
  
Cree looked up momentarily from her packing "I don't know" her voice as honest and lost "I want to see them again, I want to go home-"  
  
"Cept now you gots two homes" Cindy finished for her  
  
"Don't know what to do"  
  
"What do you feel is right?"  
  
"Wish I knew" Cree finished "But I have to try and see what comes out of things myself" she zipped up the bag.  
  
A knock was heard on her front door. Cindy left the bedroom she shared with Cree and went to go answer it. "Hey suga" she greeted Cree's mom. "You leavin' today?"  
  
"Yeah" Ming answered, still standing in the doorway. "Okay if I come in?"  
  
"More then that boo" Cindy responded, letting the older woman walk into the living room.   
  
Cree came out of the bedroom, to see who it was "Hey" she greeted her mom when she saw her  
  
Ming smiled warmly and stepped over to her and kissed her forehead "Hey"  
  
"What time is your flight?" Cree asked  
  
"Eleven" Ming answered back  
  
"We should get going then-"  
  
"Cree"  
  
"The lines at Seattle are bitchin'-"  
  
"Cree baby stop" Ming halted her with a hand in the air. She looked at her with all the wisdom of a mother who had parented her kid through childhood; the same look was there from when Cree was five. "Are you sure you wanna do this?" Cree started to answer, but Ming raised her hand again "Think about it before you answer baby. I WANT you to, but that doesn't make it law anymore. You don't have to. This isn't like that time you wanted to where your karate robe to school, this is life altering. Your life-"  
  
"Mom I know" Cree interrupted "I-"  
  
"What about Ty?" Ming broke in "Long distance things are hard to do. Believe me, dad and I made it work, but it was strained. Distance does matter."  
  
"I've known him for three days momma" Cree spoke out "Three years I haven't seen you Jade or dad. I NEED to go"  
  
"Need is not the same as want" Ming put both hands on Cree's face. "Look me in the eye baby and tell me you WANT this, and I'll believe it. But don't live a lie to make me happy. You know how I feel bout lyin'" her voice took on a slight edge like it did when she interrogated people.   
  
"I WANT this" Cree repeated, "I want my life back. Don't want those people's lies to be true-"  
  
"Which people?"  
  
"The ones back at-" Cree had no real name for the place that she had squatted in for the past three years. "They told me the only time I would see my family again is in my dreams" an angry tear slid down her cheek.   
  
"Baby-" Ming's voice became sad  
  
"Mom, promise me something." Cree wiped the moisture off her face "no therapy. For now. I lived it, I don't want some quack telling me how I should feel, okay-"  
  
"When you're ready-"  
  
"I'll tell you, just not-"  
  
"I won't" Ming reassured "Promise you right now baby" she kissed her again, tenderly on both cheeks. "You still want to go?"  
  
Cree nodded "Yeah" she looked over to Cindy, "There's just a few things I have to do first"   
  
****   
  
JAM PONY   
  
"You, work, not eat-" Normal threw a box at Scott. "Where the fire trucks is Cree?"  
  
Cree emerged a few seconds later as if on cue  
  
"You're late" Normal pointed at her with one raised finger "You must be getting as popular as Max. These idiots are already starting to cover your ass with lame excuses. So far this morning I've been told your dog died, your aunt is sick, and my personal favorite from the moron in the corner you had to feast on the brains of the living because you were bitten by a werewolf last night"   
  
"That pretty much covers it" Cree responded  
  
"Your smart mouth will not be tolerated missy" Normal went on. "You show up on time or you don't show up at all."  
  
"Normal" Cree stepped over to him " I haven't worked here that that long but there's something I always wanted to say to you-" she paused "I quit"  
  
Everyone behind Cree praised her bold action   
  
"Oh you do?" Normal looked at her behind his thick glasses "Well I don't let people off that easily. You have to give me a legitimate reason for leaving my place of business"   
  
Cindy had come with Cree to see her tell off Normal, and now stood behind her.  
  
"It's like this boy" Cree began "I got too involved with one of the co-workers-"  
  
"Oh now I see" Normal broke in "And now you're mad at one of these losers so poor little you can't HANDLE any work in the vicinity of him." His voice went completely anal "Well let me tell you somethin' girly girl, I don't care WHAT guy-"  
  
Cree interrupted him this time by turning over to Cindy and lip locked her like they had been doing stuff on the fly secretly all this time.  
  
*Lick it now lick it good,  
Lick it****just like you should  
My neck, my back, like my ******  
Just like that*  
  
Normal's eyes got huge, so did Sketchy's, Scott's and any other guy within a five mile radius of the scene.  
  
Cindy for her part, caught on the meaning and joined in to make it more real. It only lasted six seconds, but to Normal it was an eternity.   
  
Cree pulled away, turning to Normal with a smug smile on her face "Sorry Normal I'm more of a woman's woman"   
  
"Can't expect me to take you back after that boo" Cindy faked an argument, crossing her arms like an upset girlfriend, trying to hide the grin on her face.   
  
"Alright" Normal cut in "You gave me a reason, not get the hell outta here-" Normal waved her away "One lesbian around here is more then enough thank you"  
  
"That was outstanding" Sketchy commented once Normal was out of their range "I didn't know you two-"  
  
"Boy push your eyes back in yo' head" Cindy jumped him "My girl isn't like that. It was all an act-"  
  
"If I pay you cash-"  
  
"Sketch, keep the dolla dollas ideas to yourself aiight?" she turned to Cree "Believe you got a plane sistah angel"   
  
"Leaving?" Sketchy sounded so forlorned "why?"  
  
"Got some REAL family business to attend to" Cree returned, holding out her fist "Nice chillin' with you boy"  
  
Sketchy returned the hand gesture "Come back if you want, most fun I had around here in a while"  
  
"Kay" Cree returned, "Maybe I'll take you up on that one day" she turned and left with Cindy  
  
"Why didn't I bring film today?" Sketchy sighed, watching them go.   
  
*****   
  
SEATTLE CITY JAIL   
  
"Warren on your felt" Sung banged on Jack's cell. "Visitor"   
  
Jack turned to see who it was "Hey hey Cree-" he looked her over, in her black leather jacket "I remember that one-"  
  
"Enough shit head" Cree barked back "I didn't come here to reminisce-"  
  
Jack looked amused "Then why did you come?"   
  
"To see why the hell did I ever go with you in the first place" she stared him down in the cell "Place we first made out musta been dark"   
  
"Musta seen a lot of darkness in your time-"  
  
"Keep it up dipwad. Between that and jacking off it's the only time you come close to gettin' your ya yas out" she spoke with an even tone. She was scared, angry, pissed. But now SHE was in control. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing he still bothered her. That could be dealt with later.   
  
"You changed Cree" Jack   
  
"Boo hoo-" Cree faked a crying sound "I don't give a shit bout what you think of me anymore." She stared him down like the slime he was "You had such power over me, and the sad thing was I let you. I wanted something so bad it made me blind. Well this time both my eyes are open. See I don't give a damn if you stay in this jail cell pissing your life away or get raped by steel head transvestites. I'm done with you. You tried something, it didn't work. It's over-" she stared him down even harder "Goodbye Jack" she turned then and left, without saying anything else. Whatever control Jack Warren had on her left with each step she took  
  
*Listen as your day unfolds   
Challenge what the future holds  
Try and keep your head up to the sky  
Lovers they may cause you tears  
Go ahead release your fears  
Stand up and be countin'   
Don't be shamed to cry*  
  
"Hey girly girl I'm not done with you!" Jack stood up from the cot "Get back here! Cree!" he watched her leave, erasing herself from his life  
  
*You gotta be,   
You gotta bad, you gotta be wiser  
You gotta be hard, you gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger  
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm you gotta stay together  
All I know all I know love will save the day*  
  
*****   
  
SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT   
  
Ty sat there on the plastic chair of the waiting area, watching people pass by.   
  
The FAA announcer came over the intercom "Flight 23 to LAX will begin boarding in five minutes"   
  
He felt someone slide into the chair beside him   
  
"Hey" Cree's deep voice filled his ears. He had just gotten use to having her around and now she was leaving. "Don't look so whipped"  
  
Ty turned to her "That has nothing to do with you leavin'"  
  
She hit him "Shut up" silence hung in the air "I need to go home ya know?" she tried to explain to him how she felt.  
  
"I figured" he answered "I'd would too if I hadn't seen my family-" he laughed a bit and reached for her heand "But I'm a manly man, I don't do the whole melodrama thing"  
  
"Oh so I got a manly man huh?" Cree cocked an eyebrow at him, laughing, which was followed by a sigh "I'll call-"  
  
"You'll still live with your mom?"  
  
"Yeah, I want to see the house again. Kinda miss it after-" she trailed off. "You could visit"  
  
"If chief ever gives me time off"  
  
"Just let my mom talk to him. She can be quite intimidating as a cop"  
  
Ty laughed at this "My number is still available"  
  
The announcer came on again "Attention passengers Flight 23 from Seattle to LAX is now boarding at Gate 12."   
  
Cree stood up, grabbing her bag, she felt so robbed by the announcer's time limit. "Guess it's time to go-" She tried not to make this sound like a melodramatic movie.   
  
"Guess so"  
  
"I'll call when I get in"  
  
"Better" Ty informed. He held out his arms a second later "Have a hug?"  
  
Cree relinquished a moment later, drawing her arms around him. She kissed him, or at least tried to, but he pulled her back "You haven't kissed any other women before Cindy right?"  
  
"What would you do if I did?" she asked  
  
"Frankly I'd be a little turned on-"  
  
She laughed and kissed him for real this time.   
  
"Take care of yourself in LA" Ty pulled back and said this "No hot star boys better hang with you-"  
  
"With my connections?" Cree shot him a look "You have nothing to worry about" she sighed   
  
"You'll be fine" he reassured her seeing her look "Just go-"  
  
She slung her bag over her shoulder, a look passed between them. She stepped over to Cindy   
  
Cindy smiled "Hate to see you leave boo, but can't say it's a bad thing"  
  
Cree fell into the hug she offered   
  
"Thanks for the kiss sugah. Game or not, it was hot" her voice got chocked "take care aiight?"  
  
Cree laughed through a chocked voice, turning to Logan   
  
"Logan-" she laughed dryly and hugged him when he offered it "Thanks for everything"   
  
He kissed her on the forehead "You're welcome back at my place anytime okay?"  
  
Cree nodded "Better be wedding pictures next time I come kay?" she looked at him in a mock warning.  
  
The last person she had left was Max. What could she say to the woman who had helped her through so much? Given her a chance to get her life back.   
  
"Never knew what you would get into when you said I sang good huh?" she remembered the first time she and Max met at Crash.  
  
"Wasn't a bad thing" Max told her  
  
"Nope" Cree came over and hugged her, which Max returned, "Always wanted an older sister" she paused   
  
"I have 11 sibs aleady, but I can always use another"  
  
Cree tried not to cry.   
  
FAA WOMAN: Final boarding for Flight 23 at LAX  
  
"Bye guys" Cree waved at the group of people moving with her mom to the gate entrance. Max watched her walk through the gate with Ming.   
  
*****   
  
"I'm still standing, I'm still strong!"  
  
~trailer for "Antwon Fisher"   
  
*****   
  
SPACE NEEDLE   
  
MAX: (V.O) "Our lives are never simple. Meeting Cree made me aware that I'm not the only one with problems. Wish it could've been under better circumstances, but I'm glad we shacked up.  
  
Max smiles to herself. "Also glad of another shack up. Logan and I danced around each other for such a long time until now. Can't say that it'll be all clear from here, but that don't mean I can't enjoy every minute of the in-between." Her smile broadens "Speaking of which I got some recon to do with a certain cyber journalist" she stands "Manticore made me hate re-con, but Logan's warming me up to doin' it his way-" pause "Cree where ever you are now take care of yourself girl, you're awesome-"  
  
(V.O fades into a song)   
  
*Love - Devotion  
Feeling - Emotion*  
  
= = = =  
  
LAX  
  
"Hope you had a good flight" the attendant at the gate smiled at Ming and Cree as they walked through into the airport.   
  
Cree walked ahead. Her eyes found two sets of familiar ones looking at her. Her breathing grew rapid. She threw her bag down onto the terminal floor and ran.  
  
Jade was the first one she reached and the sisters locked arms around each other.   
  
"I knew you weren't dead" Jade didn't let go "I never believed it-" her voice was muffled by her crying   
  
Don't be afraid to be weak  
Don't be too proud to be strong  
Just look into your heart my friend  
That will be the return to yourself  
The return to innocence*   
  
Cree hugged her for a long time, only breaking apart to look at her baby sister "You grew up twit" she sniffed  
  
"So did you"   
  
"Can we do it together for the rest of the time?" Jade asked  
  
Cree, laughed and nodded through her tears. Her eyes looked to her dad "Sorry I came home so late daddy"  
  
"I'll excuse it this time" Peter's hard voice cracked and he embraced his daughter hard. He kissed her long on the forehead.  
  
*If you want, then start to laugh  
If you must, then start to cry  
Be yourself don't hide  
Just believe in destiny*   
  
Peter looked up to his wife "This time I don't care that I was wrong"  
  
Ming stepped over to him "told you I'd deliver"   
  
"Daddy" Cree's voice, more mature then Peter remembered broke in. She had grown so much. Her eyes, her features, she looked like the woman he knew she would one day become. "Not now"  
her eyes still had that look that could wrap him around her little finger. "Can't we just go home?"  
  
*Don't care what people say  
Just follow your own way  
Don't give up and use the chance*  
  
Peter looked at his oldest daughter "Yeah, baby girl okay" he hugged her "Let's go home"  
  
*To return to innocence*   
  
*****   
  
END  
  
There ya have it. Two years of work done. Feel like I finished a 'phase' or something. The ending, I worked on it a lot, cause while I wanted something to tie everything together I didn't want all sap and mush. That wouldn't be real to the story.   
  
Thanks again for reading this, and the sequel will begin production soon, when exactly I don't know.   
  
The songs used were:   
  
"Lick my neck, my back" Khia (on DA soundtrack)  
  
"Love Will Save the Day" Singer Unknown  
  
"Return to Innocence" Enigma (the inspiration for the fic)  
  
  
*ENDING REMARKS* This story was about the issue of Sexual Slavery, a very real problem in our world. The accounts of brothel life and abuse are rooted in actual accounts of slavery from referenced sources. Every year women and girls are subjected to the same treatment as Cree did in this fic. But unlike her, they don't all come out on top. Many die, or never escape that life.   
  
While it may seem impossible to do anything, we CAN do something. We can educate ourselves on this horrible crime, bring its existence into the limelight. Not knowing of these crimes going on right under our noses is almost a crime in itself.   
  
For more information on sexual slavery, including the references used to describe the brothel in this story please visit my website at: http://www.angelfire.com/extreme3/anuglytruth   
  
To all the girls and women out there: Be aware, be educated, be careful, be strong.   
  
Peace ya'll  
Mystic 


End file.
